September 12, 2025
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William Roy Carey, 47, of Perkiomen Township, was sentenced to life in prison for fatally attacking his girlfriend, Jessica Zipkin, 34, with a hammer at his home on Nov. 1.
A man who killed his girlfriend with a hammer last November, striking her at least 20 times at his home in Perkiomen Township, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
William Roy Carey Jr., 47, was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and related offenses in Montgomery County Court in the deadly attack on 34-year-old Jessica Zipkin during a domestic dispute. Judge Wendy G. Rothstein immediately sentenced Carey to the mandatory minimum of life imprisonment.
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The Nov. 1 attack happened around 2 p.m. at Carey's apartment on the 500 block of Gravel Pike. Pennsylvania State Police found Zipkin with a fatal wound to the back of her head and a hammer beside her body when they responded around midnight, prosecutors said. An autopsy found Zipkin died of blunt force trauma.
Carey's defense attorneys argued that he was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the attack and he was not thinking rationally, the Pottstown Mercury reported. They sought reduced charges of third-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison, because they claimed prosecutors did not prove specific intent to kill Zipkin.
In the hours before the Zipkin was killed, Carey had sent her messages saying he wanted space from her, prosecutors said. The attack happened shortly after she arrived at his apartment.
"This was a domestic violence homicide," Deputy District Attorney Kelly S. Lloyd said in court, per the Pottstown Mercury. "When she wouldn't give him the space that he desired, he took it into his own hands."
Zipkin's parents spoke at the trial and described their daughter as "beautiful human being" who was needlessly killed.
Carey's brother, Kyle, 41, of Lower Pottsgrove, was convicted in July of providing marijuana and alcohol to a 15-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions at locations in Lower Pottsgrove and Upper Frederick. Kyle Carey will be sentenced later this year.
