Gary man charged with murdering roommate with sledgehammer

A Gary man faces charges for allegedly killing his roommate with a sledgehammer.

Jeremy J. Worley, 48, was charged May 14 with murder in the February 4 or 5 death of Deon Perry, 60, of Gary.

He is ordered held without bond. He had his initial hearing in Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan’s court on Monday morning.

Gary Police responded Feb. 5 to the apartment on the 400 block of Clark Road.

Perry’s relative last saw him around 11 a.m. Feb. 4 when she picked up his laundry. When she called back at 7 p.m., his roommate “Jay” answered Perry’s phone, claimed he was asleep and “would take care of him.”

The woman told police the TV’s volume was turned way up in the background.

The next morning, at 8 a.m., when she called, no one answered. She went back to drop off the laundry. She found Perry’s body on the bedroom floor. A sledgehammer was nearby.

The apartment was “ransacked.”

Security footage from the apartment building showed a man, later identified as Worley, going into the unit around 9:38 a.m. with a garbage bag and suitcase, the affidavit states.

He was later seen throwing the garbage bag over a fence by 5th Avenue and Clark Road into a vacant lot. Police later found Perry’s pill bottle, a bloody bleach bottle and bloody medical pads.

Perry loved “fast cars,” singing, and was “somewhat of a ladies’ man,” according to his obituary. He “always had a smile on his face” and loved making people laugh.

He is survived by six children.

mcolias@post-trib.com