Man Found Dead in Jersey Shore Motel

A man was found dead in a New Jersey shore motel and now seven of his friends are under arrest, accused of doing nothing to save him. It happened at the Surf Song motel in North Wildwood. Six of the people arrested are from Delaware County in Pennsylvania. The seventh is from Delaware.

"A young lady had come down to the desk requesting an ambulance for a friend she thought was sick in one of the rooms," said Mike Sheridan, the motel's general manager.

The friend was Anthony Ditullio, 21, of Folcroft, Pa. Police found him dead in room 511 around 11 a.m. on Memorial Day.

"This is an unforeseen incident. Our hearts and prayers do go out to the family of this young boy," Sheridan said.

Police said they believe Ditullio, who had been staying at another local motel but was visiting friends at the Surf Song, had used at least one illegal drug on Sunday.

Although the results of toxicology test will not be available for several weeks, police said it appears that Ditullio overdosed and became incapacitated to the point where he was wheezing and could not help himself. He ultimately died Monday morning.

According to investigators, close to 15 hours passed between the time that Ditullio became incapacitated and police were called. Authorities said seven of his friends had been in the motel room during that period of time.

"Apparently the friends did not do anything and that's the whole issue why everybody was charged that was there. They had more than enough time to give us a call and to call 911 and get him help," said Detective Sgt. John Stevenson, of North Wildwood police.

Police arrested five women and two men -- all between the ages of 19 and 24 -- and charged them with the third degree crimes of endangering an injured victim by not attempting to get help for him and with the suppression, concealment or destruction of evidence.

"It is a possible drug overdose, and there wasn't anything found in the room to actually point to that, but through the investigation, there is this victim, 21 years old, and 21-year-olds just don't die waking up in the bed the next day," Stevenson said.

The seven friends charged in the case have been released from jail. The autopsy did not find a specific cause of death.

In Folcroft, Ditullio's family was trying to come to terms with Anthony's death. They said they think he was ignored to death and they can't understand it.

"They just let him die. From what we understand, he was dying from 13 to 15 hours and was ignored to death as they partied," said Kathy Ditullio, Anthony's aunt.

Anthony was very close with his sister, Christina, and she can't believe he will never come home again.

"I'm still waiting for him to walk in the door. I never expected to wake up and find out that my brother was dead and not coming home. He's my little brother, he wasn't supposed to die at 21," Christina said. "If they would have called 911 right away, my brother would still be alive today. I don't know what kind of condition he would be in, but he would still be alive."

Ditullio's father said that one of the boys in the room was Anthony's best friend, which makes the situation even harder to understand.

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