He certainly won’t be winning any “Father of the Year” contests.
A day after Gregory Kelemen was found dead near his New Jersey home, authorities are trying to understand why he flipped and beat his adult daughter to death in her sleep with a baseball bat.
Kelemen also seriously injured his wife in the early Tuesday morning attack at the family’s home in the southern New Jersey town of Vorhees.
He allegedly killed his 22-year-old daughter, Katherine Kelemen, after repeatedly striking her with the bat while she was still asleep in her bed.
His wife Sheri Kelemen told police she woke up when her husband then started beating her with the bat.
Kelemen’s daughter was rushed to Jefferson University Hospital, where she died of blunt force trauma.
His wife was taken to a different hospital to be treated for injuries to her head and hands.
Authorities said Kelemen,57, fled the home before they arrived. He was being sought by the US Marshals when his body was found, according to a report in the Courier Post.
The suspect’s body was discovered around 11:30 a.m. in a wooded area around a mile from the family’s residence, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Kelemen was found with “what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the office said.
The deranged dad had kept the bat under the bed, police said. During the attack, according to his injured wife, he was screaming, “I can’t take it anymore.”
Prior to the discovery of his body, Kelemen had been charged with murder, attempted murder and unlawful possession of a weapon.