Gary Man Found Guilty in Brutal 2024 Killing of Deon Perry; Evidence Traced Steps of Roommate
GARY — A Lake County jury has found Jeremy Worley guilty in the 2024 homicide of Deon Perry, whose body was discovered inside his apartment at 435 Clark Road on February 5, 2024. The verdict follows a detailed investigation by the Gary Police Department and the Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force, which pieced together eyewitness accounts, forensic evidence, and security footage to identify Worley as the killer.
According to court documents and testimony, investigators were called to Apartment 411 on April 5, 2024, after Perry’s sister discovered his body on the bedroom floor. The sister told detectives she had arrived with her brother’s laundry and used her own key to enter after receiving no answer. Inside, she found the apartment in disarray and her brother unresponsive.
Detective Nielsen, who led the homicide investigation, reported that the bedroom walls were spattered with blood and that a sledgehammer was found leaning against a wall, consistent with a violent beating. Autopsy findings completed the Lake County Coroner’s Office later confirmed that Perry died from blunt force trauma to the head, ruling the death a homicide.
The sister told investigators she last saw her brother alive the morning of February 4 around 11 a.m. when she picked up his laundry. That evening, when she called to check on him, his roommate—known to the family only as “Jay”—answered Perry’s phone. She told detectives that “Jay” claimed Perry was sleeping and that he would take care of him, noting that the television in the background was unusually loud.
It was not until later in the investigation that Perry’s brother identified “Jay” as Jeremy Worley, providing detectives with Worley’s Facebook profile. Investigators later matched the images to Worley’s Indiana BMV photo.
Detectives obtained surveillance footage from the apartment complex, which captured the hallway outside Perry’s unit. According to the affidavit, video showed Worley exiting Apartment 411 on February 5 around 9:38 a.m. carrying a white trash bag and a suitcase. He was then seen walking down the south stairwell, exiting the building, and throwing the trash bag over a fence into a vacant lot near 5th Avenue and Clark Road.
No other individuals were seen entering the apartment for any meaningful period before or after Worley, aside from an elderly man making only partial entry for 28 seconds the previous night. The sister was the next person to enter, using her key, just before discovering her brother’s body.
Detective Green of the Gary Police Department searched the vacant lot where Worley was seen discarding the bag. Inside, investigators found a pill bottle labeled with the victim’s name, a bottle of Clorox cleaner stained with what appeared to be blood, and several large medical-style absorbent pads with reddish-brown staining.
Detectives believe these items were used in an attempt to clean the crime scene.
Combined with the timeline, autopsy findings, and Worley being the last person seen leaving the apartment before the victim was discovered, investigators concluded that Worley had murdered Deon Perry.
In a press release Wednesday, the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that Jeremy Worley was found guilty of homicide following trial presentations that included:
• Crime scene evidence and blood-spatter observations
• Autopsy results confirming death by blunt force trauma
• Eyewitness accounts from the victim’s family
• Building security footage documenting Worley leaving with the victim’s belongings
• Recovery of the discarded trash bag containing cleaning materials and the victim’s property
Prosecutors thanked Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bruno, the Gary Police Department, and the Lake County Homicide Task Force for their work on the case.
Sentencing for Worley will be set at a later date.
