Case closed in Dewey murder

Delaware police have closed the case on the first murder in the history of Dewey Beach.  They say after a long night out in Dewey Beach, Pawan Kumar, 26, stabbed Danielle Mehlman to death, early in the morning of June 18, in a Dewey Beach motel room.

Kumar then fled to New Jersey, where he left a four-page suicide note before overdosing on drugs. His body was found June 19 in a New Jersey motel room.

Sgt. Paul Shavack, of Delaware State Police, said Kumar wrote in his suicide note he killed Mehlman because she was using him for money and luxury trips.

“We may not know a factual motive because there was only two people in that room,” Shavack said.  He said he could only speculate, but Shavack said, “I believe he was in love with Danielle; he thought he was romantically involved.”

“This wasn’t the case,” Shavack said. “This may have been the first time publicly where Danielle made that clear.”

Timeline to a murder

Shavack said Kumar entered the United States from India on a work visa March 17; he was employed with Cognizant Technology of Wilmington.

“We believe Danielle Mehlman met Kumar sometime in April,” Shavack said.  He said the two spent time together socially between April and June.  According to interviews with her friends, Mehlman, of Bensalem, Pa., was not romantically interested in Kumar, Shavack said.

Mehlman and Kumar checked into Room 107 at Atlantic Oceanside Motel in Dewey Beach, June 17, both arriving in Mehlman’s Oldsmobile.  Kumar picked up the tab for the hotel, Shavack said.

At 8 p.m., Kumar went to a local beach variety store and bought a small, serrated steak knife, Shavack said.  Police pulled a surveillance photo of Kumar from Sun Medicine in Dewey Beach.

Shavack said police do not think Kumar bought the knife premeditating Mehlman’s murder.  “In an earlier purchase, he bought a cell phone charger that was heat-sealed in plastic,” Shavack said.  Kumar also looked at scissors in the store but probably purchased the knife because it was cheaper, he said.

After the purchase, Kumar and Mehlman had dinner at Jimmy’s Grille, Shavack said; at 9:30 p.m., the two arrived at the Starboard.  In surveillance footage, Shavack said, police saw Mehlman approach a group of men at the bar; Kumar appeared intoxicated and agitated.  Kumar tried to confront one of the men Mehlman talked to, and he was then escorted out by security, Shavack said.

“He waited outside for two hours while Danielle remained inside the Starboard,” Shavack said.

At 1 a.m., Mehlman left the bar with the same group of men she had been talking to and asked them to shield her from Kumar, Shavack said.  Kumar shadowed the group as they walked with Mehlman on the opposite side of Route 1, he said.

Mehlman accompanied the men to a local restaurant, then to a condo the group had rented, Shavack said.

Kumar returned to Atlantic Oceanside and told the desk clerk to inform him if a woman came back for the Oldsmobile, Shavack said.  He said Kumar contacted the desk clerk again shortly afterwards, saying he had locked his keys in the motel room and needed to be let back in.

At 4 a.m., Mehlman left the condo where she had been avoiding Kumar and headed back to Atlantic Oceanside.  In his suicide note, Kumar said he confronted Mehlman about her leaving him; they argued, and Kumar stabbed Mehlman multiple times, Shavack said.

Kumar then changed his clothes, took the contents of Mehlman’s purse and left the hotel on foot.

At 7 a.m., Kumar caught a taxi to Wilmington. Shortly before 10 a.m., a coworker of Kumar’s arrived at his home in Wilmington to pick him up for work, Shavack said.  “Kumar told him he’s not going to work; he killed someone,” he said.

Shavack said the coworker contacted his supervisor at Cognizant, and the supervisor contacted police.

Mehlman's body was discovered by housekeepers, who contacted Dewey Beach Police June 18.  “She was lying on the floor, face-up; she was covered in blood,” Shavack said.

He said the handle of the knife was found on the floor next to Mehlman and the blade, which had broken off, was on top of a dresser.  “So you can imagine the force he used,” Shavack said.

Shavack said Kumar took a train to Belleville, N.J., and checked into the Belleville Motor Lodge at 2:30 p.m.  He said Kumar called another coworker after he arrived at the motel and said he murdered a girl after an argument, took her ID and walked away.

Shavack said Kumar also took Mehlman’s cell phone, her school ID from Planet Abacus Charter School in Philadelphia, where she was a teacher, and a bottle of medication prescribed to Mehlman.

Police discovered Kumar June 19, in the New Jersey motel room. Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County, N.J. Prosecutor's Office, said Kumar committed suicide by drug overdose.

Shavack said Kumar confessed to Mehlman’s murder in his suicide note, which was found on a table in his motel room.  He expressed no regret, Shavack said.

Aftermath

Shavack said he hopes closing the case will bring closure to both families involved.

Mehlman lived with her 4-year-old son, Tyler, in Bensalem, Pa.  Her father, Donald Mehlman, lives in Philadelphia; her mother, Patricia Reyes and stepfather, Roberto Reyes, live in Reading, Pa.

Mehlman’s purse and her belongings were returned to her mother, Shavack said.  “We haven’t heard from his parents at all,” he said of Kumar.

Delaware State Police have talked to Indian media outlets, Shavack said, who told them Kumar’s parents suspected a conspiracy and thought whoever murdered Mehlman also murdered Kumar.

Shavack said this was not the case.  “Our detective thoroughly investigated the case,” he said.  “We’re fully confident he acted alone.”