Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset
Mark Adam Keseleski
June 15, 2006 · Woodbridge, Middlesex County
Details as recorded
Every value below is shown exactly as Fatal Encounters recorded it.[1]
- Name as recorded
- Mark Adam Keseleski
- Age as recorded
- 46
- Gender as recorded
- Male
- Race as reported
- European-American/White
- Date of the injury resulting in death
- June 15, 2006
- Location as recorded
- Woodbridge, Middlesex CountyNew Jersey Turnpike, Mile 94.3 Woodbridge NJ 07095 Middlesex
- Highest level of force as recorded
- Asphyxiated/Restrained
Where the dataset places it
The marked point is the dataset's own geocoded location for this record, as recorded. Every other New Jersey record in the dataset is shown in gray. A point on a map is where a death was recorded, not a finding about anyone.
Agencies as recorded
Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: New Jersey State Police
An agency appears here because it appears in the record's as-reported agency field, nothing more. Its presence is not a claim of fault or responsibility.
Department pages (matched by this site at high confidence)
The source's account
Fatal Encounters' description of the incident, verbatim. This is the source project's own third-party narrative, not this site's reporting.
Troopers Thomas Murtha and Steven Levash responded about 9:15 p.m. to a report of a single-car crash on the northbound outer roadway of the Turnpike. They found a 1999 Saturn SL2 on fire in a swampy area on the berm of the roadway. The troopers encountered the driver near the burning vehicle, and there was a struggle. The driver bit Trooper Murtha on his left forearm, Trooper Murtha used pepper spray, and the driver ultimately was handcuffed by the troopers. Minutes after the driver was moved to the berm of the roadway, he died.
Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://www.nj.gov/lps/newsreleases06/pr20060616a.html (external link, as recorded in the dataset).
If you are a family member of the person named here, or represent one, and something in this record is wrong, or you want the record removed, requests go through the corrections page. Every request is checked against the source record.
This is one of 22 New Jersey records the dataset dates to 2006, and one of 26 it holds for Middlesex County across 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.
Questions and answers
What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?
Fatal Encounters records that Mark Adam Keseleski died on June 15, 2006 in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, with "Asphyxiated/Restrained" as the highest level of force. Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced dataset of deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind; a record is not a finding of fault or misconduct.
Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?
The record's agency field reads "New Jersey State Police". Presence in that field means the agency appears in the record as reported, nothing more; it is not a claim of fault or responsibility by any officer or agency.
Where did this happen?
The record places the death in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, on June 15, 2006. The address as recorded is New Jersey Turnpike, Mile 94.3 Woodbridge NJ 07095 Middlesex.
Sources
- [1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 24894. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩