AMHERST, Mass. (Court TV) — A Massachusetts chef is being held without bail on charges he brutally beat his wife to death inside a hotel on the campus of UMass Amherst.

Jeffrey MacDonald, 36, is charged with murder and assault and battery on a police officer after an incident on Wednesday night. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Thursday morning.

In a police report reviewed by Court TV, officers said they were called to the Hotel UMass for an emergency in room 413. When officers arrived, they said a “violent struggle” took place with MacDonald, who “threw objects in the direction of officers and struck one UMass police officer in the face on more than one occasion.”

When police made their way to room 413, they found MacDonald’s wife dead from what officers at the scene described as a “violent assault.” When MacDonald spoke to detectives, he allegedly admitted beating his wife to death “using his hands, feet, as well as a variety of other blunt objects and that it was his intent to kill her in doing so.”

In a statement to the community, UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes identified the victim as a staff member at the school but did not specify her position.

Jeffrey MacDonald was previously named “Chef of the Year” by the American Culinary Federation at its 2025 convention.