Man Charged In Violent Crash That Killed 22-Year-Old Woman

It was fast. It was violent. And in a matter of moments, a 22-year-old Croydon woman with a promising future was dead.

Neighbors rushed out to the violent scene at the corner of Cedar Avenue and River Road in Bristol Township’s Croydon section shortly before 6 p.m. on December 20 and first responders were called. Their sirens wailed through Croydon until they reached the scene.

Nearby, according to prosecutors, 52-year-old Louis Gene DeMora, an ironworker, was stumbling around, smoking a cigarette, and talking to himself. His overturned white 1998 GMC Jimmy was smoking, shattered glass littered the street. No more than a short walk away, Jenna Richards was trapped in her car and unresponsive.

The 22-year-old Conwell-Egan High School graduate who studied criminal justice at Holy Family University was pronounced deceased while still trapped in her white 2001 Nissan Sentra. The car was sheered apart by the GMC that Demora, also of Croydon, was allegedly driving in what he told investigators at the scene was a suicide attempt.

“I am dead. I am dead. I only wanted to hurt myself,” Demora allegedly told an officer.

He was taken into custody Monday and arraigned by District Judge Frank W. Peranteau Sr. on charges murder of the third degree, homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle by DUI, DUI, reckless driving and exceeding the speed limit.

According to police records, Demora was driving around 90 mph on River Road when he struck the Nissan driven by Richards at the intersection of River Road and Cedar Avenue. Authorities indicated there was no evidence of braking by Demora’s vehicle before or after the impact.

The speed limit on River Road is marked at 25 mph.

Police and prosecutors noted that Richards had left her home to go to the gym just moments before the crash and was traveling at 15 mph down River Road before attempting a left turn onto Cedar Avenue when her vehicle was ripped apart by Demora’s.

“He practically drove through [Richard’s] car,” Assistant District Attorney Robert James said following Monday’s arraignment.

An autopsy conducted the day after the crash concluded Richards had died from significant head trauma and internal injuries suffered during the accident, court papers stated.

Demora, who was interviewed two days after the crash while he was a patient in the intensive care unit of Aria Health’s Torresdale campus, told officers he felt guilty because he was high on heroin at the time of the crash and that he uses cocaine and Xanax regularly.

Demora told the officer how “sorry he was, that he was a scumbag, and that he should be the dead one because it was all his fault,” Officer CJ Winik wrote on court papers. Medical records later confirmed the presence of opiates, cocaine and benzodiazepines in his system.

In court on Monday, Demora was quiet aside from answering questions from the district judge. He wore pajamas and told Peranteau he was in treatment, but did not elaborate on what type.

“I don’t care what his injuries were. That girl’s dead,” James told a reporter when asked about Demora’s injuries.

James said the charge of murder of the third-degree was filed due to the seriousness of the accident in addition to the homicide by vehicle charges.

Demora’s bail was set at $1 million cash by the district judge. He was transported by constables Monday afternoon to the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.