According to authorities, a man from West Virginia is being accused of killing his neighbor by gouging his eyes out in a dispute over a loud rooster.
A statement from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office was cited by The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, which reported the suspect, Richard Wayne Ellison, 74 years old, was caught Sunday in suspicion of killing Benny Foutch.
Annoyance can kill
A criminal complaint wrote that Ellison confessed to a detective of killing a loud rooster, and then gouging out his neighbor's eyes out because he was told by "Lucifer" to do it.
According to WCHSTV, the complaint the initial call was made for emergency crews to respond and were requested to do a mental evaluation. It is currently unknown if the suspect has an attorney.
The suspect allegedly stormed onto Foutch's property after being annoyed by the noise of his neighbor's loud rooster that led to the two's argument.
EMS responders found Foutch on the scene, dead, with blood dripping from his eye sockets, as reported by the New York Post.
The dead rooster was allegedly taken by Ellison, which he gave to his son to dispose of before law enforcement arrived at their residence for his arrest.
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"I asked Ellison what happened with him and Benny, he then made the hand motion of pressing his thumbs to his eyes," said Detective-Corporal M.S. Horn of the Mercer County Sheriff's Office. "He advised he went up there to kill the rooster because of a movie he had watched and because it was crowing."
"Ellison later explained that he pressed his thumbs into Benny's eyes, he advised that he stayed there until he knew Benny was dead," added the complaint. "He made the statement that he killed him, referring to the incident with Benny. He made a reference that Lucifer made him do it. He kept asking me to shoot him, that he deserved it. He then talked about getting somebody in the jail to kill him."
Murder over animals
A similar case was seen when a man from Thornton was arrested for murdering his neighbor after getting into an argument over a dog, as reported by The Denver Post.
Michael Kourosh Sadeghi, 33 years old, was put on trial in April 2019. On March 27, 2018, law enforcement was dispatched to respond to reports of gunfire.
When police officers arrived at the scene at the residence located at 4625 E. 106th Avenue, they discovered the body of Dustin Schmidt, 42 years old, in his backyard with gunshot wounds.
The suspect allegedly got into an argument with the victim when the dog of Schmidt's girlfriend jumped the fence and headed into Sadeghi's yard.
The dog, named Bruno, a German shepherd mix dog, was allegedly hanging by his leash before Schmidt pulled him back over the fence into their yard.
According to prosecutors, the two got into four arguments before Sadeghi's shot Schmidt, killing him. Sadeghi was scheduled to be sentenced on June 24, 2019.
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