Suspect in Murder of Seaside Heights Woman Remaining Behind Bars

Emiliano Davila (Photo: Ocean County Jail)

The Monmouth County man accused of killing a Seaside Heights woman has been ordered to remain lodged in the Ocean County Jail, prosecutors said Friday.

Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicari ordered Emiliano Davila, 41, of Keansburg, to be held pending trial in the death of Mary O’Connor, 32, of Seaside Heights. He is also charged with domestic violence aggravated assault by strangulation in her death.

According to a previous statement from prosecutors, O’Connor died Nov. 5, after two days in a local hospital. Police were called to Community Medical Center in Toms River on Nov. 3 for a report of a female with blunt force trauma to her head. The female, later identified as O’Connor, had been dropped off at the hospital by two males who then left the area. O’Connor was found to be unresponsive, suffering from a brain bleed, and showed obvious signs of bruising consistent with strangulation, the statement said.

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An investigation by the prosecutor’s office’s Major Crime Unit and Seaside Heights Police detectives determined that Davila was one of the individuals who left O’Connor at the hospital. Continuing investigation revealed that O’Connor and Davila were in a dating relationship, “and that Davila had assaulted Ms. O’Connor the night before at a motel in Seaside Heights where she was residing,” the statement said. The name of the motel was not included in the statement.

Davila was taken into custody by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force and Brick Township Police Department the same day and charged with domestic violence aggravated assault by way of strangulation. An autopsy determined that the cause of O’Connor’s death was blunt force trauma to the head causing a subdural hematoma, and the manner of death was homicide.