American man kills home intruder by tying him to a tree

Tying a burglar to a tree with layers of tape and a clothesline, leading to death; some things can only happen in the US.  

Nathaniel Johnson, a 68-year-old resident of the town Leroy, Alabama, had become annoyed at the increasing number of burglaries at his property and decided something had to be done about it. So on the night of July 29, he planted a trap for any potential burglars. 

To make it seem as though he wasn’t home, he parked his car at a neighbour’s house, returned home and waited patiently to see if a burglar would appear. 

Close to midnight, he heard a knock on the front door. Mr Johnson, while stealthily looking out of a car mirror near a window, waited for the intruder to arrive at the back door and break the lock. Johnson had his chance; when the person entered the house, he chased him outside, jumped on him and tied his hands behind his back. He then tied masking tape around his mouth, face and head. With insulated electric tape and clothesline, he tied the intruder to a tree. 

Next, he returned to his neighbour’s house where he parked his car and called the police. Ten minutes later, police arrived on the scene and the burglar was dead.  

According to the local Washington county sheriff, Richard Stringer, he did not believe Johnson was “intending to kill the intruder”, rather he thought he “wanted to capture [the intruder] and have him arrested.”

As Critic goes to print, Johnson has not been charged. However, he was kept in custody by local police for 72 hours following the incident. The parties involved are now waiting for an autopsy to confirm the intruder’s cause of death. Stringer said they would “probably present the case to the Grand Jury” of the county to determine whether or not Johnson should be charged. 

This article first appeared in Issue 18, 2016.
Posted 10:55am Sunday 7th August 2016 by Tom Kitchin.