Dewey Beach Motel Murder Suspect Found Dead In NJ - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

Police say the man being sought as a suspect in the murder of a local woman at a Dewey Beach motel has been found dead in New Jersey.

Delaware State Police reported earlier Tuesday that they held an arrest warrant for Pawan Kumar, 26, of the Stratford Apartments on the 3000 block of Naamans Road in Wilmington.

That warrant was for charges of first-degree murder and possessing a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony.

But late Tuesday afternoon police said they were informed that Kumar was found dead at the Bellville Motor Lodge in Essex County, N.J. No cause of death was immediately released.

Investigators say it was Monday morning when a cleaning woman found a woman's body in a ground-floor room at the Atlantic Oceanside Motel on the 1700 block of Coastal Highway in Dewy Beach.

Police identified the victim Tuesday as 26-year-old Danielle Mehlman, of Bensalem, Pa.

She is the beach community's first murder victim in its 31-year history.

FOX 29 News has learned that Mehlman was a young mother who worked from Oct. 2007 until April 2008 at the Cherry Hill School District in an after-school program at Barton Elementary School.

Delaware State Police released a surveillance photo Monday of a person of interest in the case, and on Tuesday they had identified that man as Kumar, their suspect.

The Medical Examiner's Office is continuing to investigate the cause of Mehlman's death.