Katy Man Accused Of Killing, Cremating His Wife: Police Said

KATY, TX — Homicide investigators have charged a Katy man with murder and tampering with a corpse in relation to his wife's death. According to police, Jay Patrick Hammersley, 44, contacted police on March 19 to report his wife missing.

Hammersley told investigators that his wife, 29-year-old Mara Vestal, left their home in the 20200 block of Golden Mesa in the Sun Down Glen subdivision, and had never returned.

Hammersley allegedly told police that he'd not seen or heard from his wife in two or three weeks, and that she'd taken her belongings with her.

However, the scope of the investigation changed when police were contacted by someone who turned out to be a key witness.

According to the Harris County District Attorney's Office, the witness claimed Hammersley had approached him a month earlier asking him to help stage Vestal's death to look like a suicide.

Hammersley allegedly told his friend that he'd gotten into an argument with Vestal, and that he'd strangled her inside their home, officials said.

The man allegedly refused to help Hammersley and urged him to call police, according to the DA's office. The witnesses told investigators he decided to call police when he hadn't heard anything about the case after several weeks.

Investigators interviewed Hammersley on April 3, who allegedly confessed to killing his wife on Feb. 16.

Investigators said Hammersley tried to dispose of Vestal's body by trying to cremate her at his home in a backyard shed.

Hammersley allegedly told investigators that he placed her remains in a trashbag and left them on the curb to be collected, but they were not picked up.

Officials with the DA's office Hammersley disposed of Vestal's remains. He is currently being held on a $105,000 bond in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility.

The case remains under investigation.

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