Man in wheelchair beaten to death in Newark

NEWARK, N.J. (WABC) -- A wheelchair-bound man in Newark was beaten to death, and authorities are trying to figure out who wanted this helpless man dead and why?

Police were just wrapping up the crime scene Wednesday night, a day and a half after the lifeless body of 63-year-old Wilbert Kesselly was found bludgeoned and bloody in his home on Fabyan Place.

"A woman came pounding on my door and saying Wilbur, the gentleman next door, had killed himself," a neighbor said.

The neighbor didn't want to be identified, but she told police Kesselly had been having problems with a woman for some time.

"I told one of the officers that he had been having trouble with this one woman and to the point that we had a conversation outside that he was afraid of her, that she was going to harm him," the neighbor said.

"He was a real nice guy, it's sad, really sad," another neighbor said.

Neighbors said Kesselly had only been in a wheelchair a year or so and that he owned the house on Fabyan Place and did sometimes have trouble with tenants, especially recently.

"A couple times, I had to call the cops for him. I was worried about him I told him to be careful," the neighbor said.

No arrests have been made.

Prosecutors are asking anyone with information on the killing to contact them.