Oakland man charged with beating woman to death while on probation for attacking roommate
OAKLAND — A man with previous convictions for sexual assault and attacking a roommate has been charged with murder in connection with the recent fatal beating of a woman here, court records show.
Jeffrey McMaster Jr., 44, was charged with murder in the death of 49-year-old Leslie Marshall, who suffered blunt force trauma and died Monday at a residential hotel in the 2300 block of San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. Authorities say McMaster also lived at there, and that he was on probation for beating his roommate in 2023.
According to Oakland police, McMaster committed the alleged murder in full view of a security camera at the hotel and walked back to his room, where he was found with blood on his hands. He reportedly confessed to using his hands and feet in the beating, authorities said.
Marshall’s body was found in a backyard of the hotel, according to authorities.
McMaster is now at Santa Rita Jail, being held without bail. He was arrested Monday at 11 a.m., around the same time Marshall’s body was found, according to court records.
In 2023, McMaster was charged with attacking a roommate at a residential care home in San Lorenzo, causing a fracture to the victim’s eye socket. While at the jail in May 2023, McMaster was accused of attacking his cellmate. The man told deputies that McMaster bit his right ear, punched him several times in the head, stabbed him in the neck with a pencil and attempted to suffocate him with a plastic bag.
In 2024, McMaster pleaded no contest to elder abuse and was sentenced to one day in jail and a two-year probation term that was supposed to end in July, court records show. While the case was pending, McMaster’s lawyer raised doubts about his mental competency and had him evaluated by a psychiatrist.
McMaster has been to prison three times, for battery involving serious injury, burglary and finally for a 2009 conviction for assault with intent to commit a sex crime, court records show.
Marshall’s death is the 10th homicide investigated by Oakland police in 2026. Last year at this time, police had investigated 13 homicides in the city.
McMaster is set to be arraigned Wednesday morning.