‘DEMONS TOLD ME TO’
Boyfriend confesses to killing Hamilton woman in 9-1-1 call, says she ‘sicced the demons’ on him >>
HAMILTON » Before getting arrested on murder and animal cruelty charges, Daniel Torres Jr. blamed everything on the victim, reporting he had shot and killed his girlfriend inside their Hamilton Township apartment to ward off demonic forces.
“I killed my girlfriend. I killed her because she sicced the demons on me,” Torres said in a 9-1-1 call obtained by The Trentonian . “I got proof. I got evidence. I’m very afraid. I got a dog.”
The 9-1-1 call, which lasts about nine minutes and 30 seconds, gives insight into Torres’ mindset on the morning of Sunday, Aug. 13. That is the date in which Torres, 38, is accused of slaying 31-year-old Jennifer Beer and fatally maiming one of two dogs that were in the apartment.
Torres in the 9-1-1 call said he was armed with two guns and that he was wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest. Although he was packing serious firepower, Torres tried to negotiate with an emergency dispatcher for assurances that police would not attempt to kill him and that they would accept his evidence of self-defense.
“You need to promise me that I’ll be safe or if not, I’ll just f---ing end myself and start a f---ing war, because that’s what they want,” Torres demands during the 9-1-1 call with the emergency dispatcher. “Being demonized. You need to promise me that somebody will come up here and talk to me and see what I have. I’m not going to hurt nobody.”
Torres said he had video footage and handwritten letters that he wanted to turn over to the authorities. He described those items as proof of self-defense against “demonic attacks” and said he did not want those items to go missing.
“Sir, if this evidence gets lost. I’m gonna beat this case,” Torres says, his thoughts disjointed. “I need to show that I…”
“OK,” the dispatcher says, cutting Torres off. “I will help you. I want to help you. OK, listen, I want to help you. I promise you, I will not hurt you. No one will hurt you. I just need to know where you are. Give me your address and I promise you we will get the evidence on the demons and all the photos. I just need to know, where are you?”
Torres eventually provided the dispatcher with his full name and the name of his slain girlfriend and provided their address, a secondfloor apartment on the 800 block of South Olden Avenue in Hamilton. The 9-1-1 call ended in a commotion of confusion with a dog barking and Torres stating, “I’m on the phone with 9-1-1,” and the dispatcher saying, “Daniel? Daniel? Sir? Sir?”
Police responded to the home about 6:30 a.m. Aug. 13 and upon arrival heard a gunshot coming from the second-floor apartment followed by a man yelling that the shot was an accidental discharge. Officers forcibly entered the residence and encountered Torres, who was indeed wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest, according to court documents.
Officers detained Torres and soon found the body of Jennifer Beer, which was riddled with bullets to the head and torso. Also located in the left rear bedroom was the carcass of a small dog that died from “a very large laceration to the neck,” according to court documents, which indicate that officers executed a search warrant on the property and recovered a rifle and handgun.
Torres, who was previously convicted in 2004 for second-degree assault in New York, was arrested Aug. 13 and charged with murder and weapons offenses in connection with Beer’s brutal death. She was a lifelong resident of Hamilton and the mother of two daughters, according to her obituary.
9-1-1 recording
The Trentonian obtained the 9-1-1 recording on Tuesday, more than three weeks after the newspaper submitted an Open Public Records Act request for it.
In the first 12 seconds of the 9-1-1 call, Torres says he killed his girlfriend to defend himself against demons and accuses the victim of “siccing” those evil spirits on him. The emergency dispatcher in the early part of the call speaks in a condescending manner toward Torres.
“Where are you?” the emergency dispatcher asks Torres multiple times during the call.
“I don’t want to hurt nobody else, OK,” Torres responds. “You need to send somebody up right now, because I am fully armed and I have a dog also. … The police tried to kill me twice already. Please. I’ll give you my address, but listen to what I am saying.”
“Stop,” the dispatcher says twice, impatient with Torres’ rant. “Where are you?”
“I need somebody to come talk to me first,” Torres responds.
“And you keep saying that,” the dispatcher shoots back, “but you are not telling me where you are. Where are you?”
“I’m very afraid,” Torres says. “OK, I’m gonna give you my address.”
“You’ve said that now for the fourth time,” the dispatcher says. “Are you gonna tell me your address or are you gonna keep saying you’re gonna tell me? What’s your address?”
“Promise me that they won’t kill me so I don’t have to shoot or kill nobody else,” Torres responds, which immediately elicited concern from the dispatcher.
“Did you kill anyone yet?” the dispatcher asks.
“Yes,” Torres responds. “Who did you kill?” the dispatcher asks.
“The demons told me to do it. They attacked me,” Torres responds. “I have the proof. That’s why I need to talk to somebody.”
“Did you just kill someone right now?” the dispatcher asks.
“I defended myself. I’m in my house,” Torres says.
“Who did you kill?” the dispatcher asks.
“The demons made it look like it was me, but she sicced them on me, OK,” Torres says. “She was the girl I was seeing and dating.”
“So you killed your girlfriend?” the dispatcher asks.
“I defended myself,” Torres responds. “There’s nobody in here and the demons grabbed me. They throw me all over. And I told her. … She has been demonized and she was siccing them on me.”
“How did you kill her?” the dispatcher asked.
“I was trying to shoot the demons,” Torres responds. “They grabbed me and she was laughing at me. … I even texted her aunt, ‘Yo, there’s demons out here. She needs to go to the hospital.’”
At that point in the 9-1-1 call, the dispatcher began to give Torres some safety assurances, saying, “OK, where are you? We’re not going to kill you, but where are you?”
“Good,” Torres responds. “They tried twice. I got no warrants. No nothing.”
There is an inexplicable commotion at the end of the 9-1-1 call. It is not clear from the recording if police had arrived on the scene at that point or if civilians tried to intervene or if Torres perceived the presence of demons. What is clear is that the dispatcher did not know what was going on when the call ended.
Days after his arrest, Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Bingham II ordered Torres to pretrial detention on Aug. 18, meaning Torres is being held without bail as he awaits trial or final resolution of his case, which could potentially end with a guilty plea.
Torres is scheduled for a pre-indictment conference on Sept. 25, which also happens to be the date of his 39th birthday. He is represented by defense attorney Jamie L. Hubert, a public defender.