Quakertown man charged with criminal homicide in Luzerne County

HAZLE TWP. — A man from Bucks County was charged Sunday in the beating death of a woman whose body was found at the Red Carpet Inn in Hazle Township.

Joseph Alan Sarmiento, 36, of Quakertown, was charged with an open count of criminal homicide after an autopsy revealed the woman, 38, died from blunt force trauma. Her name has not been released.

State police at Hazleton and the Luzerne County district attorney’s office say the woman was killed during a domestic violence incident Saturday.

Sarmiento was initially charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment charges.

Those charges were withdrawn in lieu of the criminal homicide charge being filed against Sarmiento on Sunday. He was jailed at the county correctional facility without bail.