Attempted murder charge for Lakewood, NJ kidnapping suspect

🚨Quamel Benton hit a woman in the head with a baseball bat, police say

🚨He stole her car and left several children unattended, police say

🚨A judge ordered Benton held until trial

An attempted murder charge was added to the long list of charges against a man in a multi-town kidnapping incident.

Quamel Benton, 35, is already facing an attempted kidnapping charge in Ocean County for a series of incidents that started in the Rittenhouse section of Willingboro and ended with a crash in Toms River on March 22.

Before driving to Ocean County, Benton hit a woman in the head with a baseball bat inside the home he shared with her and then drove off in her vehicle,  ccording to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw.

Several young children were left alone when the woman was taken via medical helicopter to Cooper University Hospital for treatment of a severe head wound.

Bradshaw did not disclose Benton's relationship with the woman or the children.

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Charges from Ocean County

Other new charges for Benton include third-degree endangering an injured victim and five counts of fourth-degree neglecting a child. He already faces attempted kidnapping, child endangerment, criminal sexual contact, resisting arrest, two counts of eluding, and obstruction from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Bradshaw said after leaving the house in Willingboro, Benton went on to try to kidnap a teenage girl in Lakewood and approach a woman in the parking lot of Target in Toms River, touching her in an inappropriate way.

At a detention hearing, a Superior Court judge ordered that Benton remain in the Burlington County Jail until his trial.

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