By John Saccenti, Staff Writer
A 19-year-old man who allegedly beat and killed his elderly roommate at Princeton House in February was indicted last week by a grand jury on one count of first-degree murder.
Michael Leal, of New Brunswick was charged with murder following the Feb. 11 beating death of his roommate, James Dunlavy, 69, of Highland Park. Mr. Leal was staying involuntarily at Princeton House Behavioral Health Institute in Princeton Township.
Mr. Leal had told prosecutors that he and Mr. Dunlavy had engaged in “mutual sexual contact” earlier that evening, and both had fallen asleep, said Brian McCauley, assistant county prosecutor. Mr. Leal awoke and “said he had been reading a Bible and started feeling guilty about what he’d been doing,” Mr. McCauley told the court during a bail hearing in February.
Mr. Leal said he then started stabbing Mr. Dunlavy with a pen, then beating him with his fists, according to Mr. McCauley. He then put a pillow over Mr. Dunlavy’s face so he wouldn’t have to see him, then went out and watched television, Mr. McCauley said.
Princeton Township police received a 911 call from Princeton House and found Mr. Dunlavy on the floor in Room 514 of the facility with medical personnel trying to revive him, he said. Mr. Dunlavy was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene, and the cause of death has been determined as “blunt force head trauma.”
Mr. McCauley said staff at Princeton House saw Mr. Leal walking around the hallway with blood on his clothes and originally thought he had injured himself, but upon checking his room they found Mr. Dunlavy.
In police interviews with Mr. Leal, he originally said Mr. Dunlavy “was feeling him up, ‘so I pushed him,’” Mr. McCauley said.
Following the bail hearing Mr. McCauley said little was known about Mr. Leal or Mr. Dunlavy, a resident of Highland Park who also was involuntarily committed to Princeton House. Mr. Dunlavy’s nearest relatives were in Texas, and had been notified, he said.
Mr. McCauley said of those who had been involuntarily committed to a facility such as Princeton House like Mr. Leal and Mr. Dunlavy, “there has been a determination the patient is a threat to himself or others.” He said Mr. Leal had come to Princeton House from another institution and had a previous driving-while-intoxicated charge.
Asked at the time if it was normal procedure to room two involuntarily committed patients of such disparate ages together, without constant supervision, Mr. McCauley said he did not have experience with what the guidelines were.
Mr. McCauley said police followed all appropriate procedures in interviewing Mr. Leal, who appeared to understand the questions put to him.
No trial date has been set.

