“Sovereign Citizen” allegedly decapitates landlord in rent dispute
A Connecticut man has been arrested and charged for allegedly killing his landlord with a katana after refusing to pay rent.
42-year-old Jerry David Thompson allegedly decapitated Victor King, 64, following a dispute over rent with the samurai sword. The Hartford Courant reports that Thompson had moved into a vacant bedroom at the home of the elderly man.
The police arrest warrant states that Thompson threatened his landlord over the rent dispute. He would later refuse to cooperate with police, informing them that he was a “sovereign citizen” and thus beholden only to the “laws of the land” and not that of the United States of America.
Last Saturday, the day before he was slain, King complained to police that his tenant had threatened him with the sword and refused to pay the rent.
King’s friends feared the worst when they were unable to reach him on Sunday and called the authorities to perform a wellness check. Police and firefighters who attended the scene found King’s bloody remains.
The Courant reports that police found “a lot of blood and King’s badly slashed body covered in bedding.”
Police soon apprehended Thompson, who refused to be interviewed by detectives, communicating to them on a piece of paper informing them of a “paper in glove compart in Jeep is all you need.”
Following the search of his Jeep, police found paperwork detailing Thompson’s self-designation as a so-called “sovereign citizen,” who do not believe they are subject to US laws. Thompson has a criminal rap sheet with multiple convictions for assault and robbery.
He was arraigned on Tuesday and is currently being held on a US$2-million bail.
King, who was an accomplished and nationally renowned bridge player, worked in IT at Travelers and retired in 2018 to focus on playing his favourite board game according to the New York Post.
“He was very good at it. Very good at teaching others to play it. Just a kind and gentle person whose first love was bridge,” his cousin Jim Banks told the Courant.
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