An Iowa man shot and killed an escaped inmate on Tuesday after the convict held him and his wife hostage in their home, investigators said.
Jerome Mauderly, 71, and his wife, Carolyn, 66, were asleep when escaped inmate Rodney Long, 38, broke into their rural Bedford home a little after 10 p.m. on Monday, said Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt.
Long — who had allegedly shot a deputy pursuing him on Sunday — woke up the Mauderlys and disabled their landline phones except for a line in the couple’s bedroom. He then took a shotgun that Jerome Mauderly, a retired prison guard and farmer, had loaded that night and placed next to the bed before going to sleep.
“(The Mauderlys) knew the situation. There was an escaped inmate, armed and dangerous. They were not the only people in the community that had loaded weapons that night,” Mortvedt said.
The Mauderlys’ home is isolated, surrounded by cornfields with the nearest neighbor about a mile away.
Long took the shotgun from the bedroom and moved it to the kitchen. He held the Mauderlys hostage at gunpoint for about four hours while he rummaged through their home for supplies and used their cell phone.
Around 2 a.m. Tuesday, while Long was upstairs looking for supplies, Jerome Mauderly sneaked into the kitchen and recovered his shotgun, Mortvedt said. Carolyn Mauderly called 911 from their bedroom. When Long walked down the stairs, Jerome Mauderly shot him in the torso. Long was found lying face down in the kitchen, Mortvedt said.
“(Long) had a handgun but was described as non-confrontational,” Mortvedt said. “After about four hours, Long let the Mauderlys out of sight, then Jerome Mauderly recovered the shotgun and shot and killed Long.
“The Mauderlys feared for their life. They had a real fear that he was going to kill them,” Mortvedt said.
Long escaped on Friday from the Clarinda Correctional Facility, a minimum security facility located 18 miles southwest of Des Moines. He was convicted of third-degree burglary.
On Sunday he was spotted walking along a highway. When a deputy arrived to confront him, Long allegedly shot him twice and took his patrol car. A second deputy pursued Long for 40 minutes. The pursuit ended when Long crashed the patrol car and ran away. The Mauderlys home is about three quarters of a mile from the crash site.
Coincidentally, the trooper who responded to the 911 call was 200 yards away from their home, searching for Long.
The deputy who was shot while pursuing Long is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.
The Mauderlys will not be charged because the killing was in self-defense. They were not injured during the home invasion.
Mayra Cuevas and Shawn Nottingham | CNN
