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Inset: Jeffrey McMaster Jr. (California Department of Justice) Background: The residential hotel in California where Jeffrey McMaster Jr. allegedly beat a 49-year-old woman to death in full view of a security camera (Google Maps).
In a shocking crime caught on surveillance footage, a man from California is accused of brutally beating his neighbor to death using only his hands and feet at a hotel where they were both residing. This incident occurred years after the suspect had previously attempted to suffocate another woman by pressing his hand on her throat, law enforcement officials report.
Following a 2008 assault where he attempted a sexual attack, Jeffrey McMaster Jr., now 44, reportedly confessed to police, “I am not fit for society,” as detailed in court records acquired by the East Bay Times, a newspaper serving Alameda County.
Expressing regret, McMaster added, “I keep doing things like this,” reflecting on his violent history.
Previously convicted for the 2008 incident and other violent acts, McMaster is now charged with the murder of Leslie Marshall, 49, who was living at the same residential hotel in Oakland as him. The Oakland Police Department identified the victim and linked McMaster to the crime.
According to reports from a KTVU Fox affiliate journalist, McMaster allegedly attacked Marshall outside the Twin Peaks Hotel on San Pablo Avenue. After the assault, he purportedly returned to his room, where police found him with blood-stained hands, as reported by the East Bay Times.
“OPD officers took 44-year-old Oakland resident Jeffrey McMaster into custody the same day as the homicide of the 47-year-old victim,” an Oakland Police press statement says.
McMaster allegedly confessed to beating Marshall, whose body was found in a backyard of the hotel. He was taken into custody and charged with murder.
Sex offender registry records posted online by the California Department of Justice show that McMaster was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape in 2009 for the 2008 attack and then sentenced to four years in state prison. He was released in 2013 and listed by Cal DOJ officials as an “above average risk” on its Static-99R Risk Scores page, which is used to “predict the risk of sexual re-offense,” according to the state website.
McMaster was also given a 22 for his Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) Risk Score, which is used to “predict the risk of re-offense” of convicts and is considered a “high” score, according to state officials.
In 2023, McMaster was charged with allegedly attacking a roommate at a residential care home in San Lorenzo, during which he fractured the victim’s eye socket, according to the East Bay Times. While in jail for that offense, he was accused of biting his cellmate on the ear and stabbing him in the neck with a pencil; the victim said McMaster also tried to suffocate him with a plastic bag.
In 2024, McMaster reportedly pleaded no contest to elder abuse and was placed on probation, with his term set to end in July 2026. McMaster’s lawyer for that case reportedly argued that he suffered from mental health problems.
McMaster is being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail. His arraignment for the Marshall slaying is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.