Crime & Safety
Montco Man Who Murdered Girlfriend With Hammer Is Sentenced: DA
Evidence showed the man struck his 34-year-old girlfriend in the back of the head, officials said.
PERKIOMEN TOWNSHIP, PA — A man who killed his girlfriend with a hammer in Perkiomen Township last year has been found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, a judge ruled in Montgomery County court this week.
William Carey Jr., 47, will not have the possibility of parole during his sentence, which is the mandatory penalty for first degree murder in Pennsylvania.
The incident occurred on Nov. 2 at around 1:25 a.m. at the home Carey and Jessica Zipkin shared in Perkiomen Township, on Gravel Pike.
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Carey had been at a nearby bar, the Duck Inn, just before the killing, according to a criminal complaint.
Zipkin, 34, was struck in the back of a head, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined. The hammer was recovered next to her body, authorities said.
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A neighbor reported hearing a man and a woman screaming around the time of the crime, the complaint states.
Carey has been booked at Montgomery County Correctional Facility since his arrest.
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