‘I am not fit for society,’ Oakland man once allegedly warned police. Now he’s facing a murder charge

OAKLAND — Years before he allegedly beat a woman to death inside the long-term housing unit where they both resided, 44-year-old Jeffrey McMaster Jr. warned police that he might be a danger to the public.

It was a particularly chilling warning because of what had just occurred: The Oakland officers were there to arrest McMaster on suspicion of attacking a woman with intent to rape her inside his bedroom, crushing her with his body weight and leaning a hand against her throat before spontaneously getting up to close a window. When he did so, the woman left, and later confronted McMaster in a taped phone call where he apologized for assaulting her, according to court records.

When police questioned him about the July 23, 2008 attack, McMaster said he realized the gravity of what he had done and added that he’d sexually assaulted others before, according to an officer’s report.

“I am not fit for society if I keep doing (expletive) like this,” he told police, according to court records.

For McMaster, that was three serious convictions ago; he was sentenced to four years in state prison for that assault, in 2009, required to register as a sex offender, and evaluated by the Department of State Hospitals after his sentence, court records show. After several more arrests on suspicion of violating parole, burglary, and possessing a weapon in jail from 2016-2017, McMaster was convicted of elder abuse twice, in 2023 and 2024, and accused during that time of attacking a cellmate by allegedly biting the victim’s ear, punching him in the head, and stabbing him with a pencil, according to court records.

His latest case involves allegedly beating 49-year-old Leslie Marshall, who suffered blunt force trauma and died on Feb. 2 at a residential hotel in the 2300 block of San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. Court filings indicate Marshall, like the man he allegedly assaulted for his 2024 conviction, lived in the same building as him. Police allege that he made no effort to get away with killing Marshall — a beating caught by security cameras — and was still bloody from the attack when police found him in his room, according to court filings.

In his most recent elder abuse case, there were doubts about McMaster’s mental competency, which put the prosecution on hold until he could be evaluated. He eventually pleaded no contest for a brief jail term and probation, which was still active at the time of Marshall’s death, court records show.

McMaster remains jailed without bail in Dublin, with an arraignment set for Feb. 18.