Voorhees man sought for killing daughter in bat attack is found dead
VOORHEES - Police have found the body of a township man sought for killing his adult daughter and injuring his wife during attacks with a baseball bat.
Gregory Kelemen, initially considered a fugitive, was wanted for the murder early Monday of his 22-year-old daughter, Katherine "Katie" Kelemen, said the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
The 57-year-old also was accused of the attempted murder of his wife, Sheri Kelemen, and a weapons offense.
His body was found around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in a wooded area off Preston Avenue in Voorhees, about one mile from the Kelemen family's home. He had "what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound," the prosecutor's office said.
Sheri Kelemen told investigators she awoke Monday to find her husband beating her with a bat and saying, "I can't take it anymore."
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After the assault, the mother crawled to her daughter's bedroom where she found Katherine Kelemen "unresponsive and covered in blood."
A bat was on the daughter's bed, according to a probable cause statement for the charges against Gregory Kelemen.
Sheri Kelemen said her husband normally kept the bat under their bed.
The mother alerted police in a 911 call around 6:50 a.m. Monday,
Officers arrived at the family's home on the 100 block of Round Hill Road to find Gregory Kelemen and his car, a silver Toyota RAV4, were missing.
Katherine Kelemen was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8:17 a.m., the probable cause statement says.
Sheri Kelemen was hospitalized in stable condition with injuries to her head and hands.
She told detectives her husband had been asleep when she went to bed around 2 a.m.
According to the statement, Gregory Kelemen contacted his employer shortly after 10 a.m. Monday, saying "he had a family emergency and that he was gong to be late to work."
Kelemen, who never reported to work, had been sought by the U.S. Marshals Service and local authorities
Anyone with knowledge helpful to the investigation are asked to call Prosecutor’s Detective Kyrus Ingalls at 856-225-5105 or Voorhees Police Detective Justin Sims at 856-906-0411.
Jim Walsh covers public safety, economic development and other beats for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Voorhees NJ: Man sought for killing daughter with bat found dead
