A man who says he is in love with convicted murderer Jodi Arias was transported by authorities on Wednesday to the Maricopa County jail in Arizona after threatening to kill two national TV commentators over their coverage of Arias' trial, according to the Associated Press.
David Lee Simpson, 48, of Bath N.Y., was indicted on July 18 on three counts of felony computer tampering and two counts of stalking after making death threats on Twitter. The threats were aimed at HLN commentators Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell, according to the Huffington Post.
Simpson tweeted that he would like to tie Grace and Velez-Mitchell to a "tree naked and leave them to suffer all night" and that he would "slit their throats." The tweets were made while the commentators were in Phoenix covering the trial. Court records indicate that Simpson also tweeted threats at a woman from Phoenix who was "scared to death," reports the Associated Press.
Bath police investigator Heather Barry was trying to find Simpson in order to take him into custody on the aggravated harassment charge when she got a call from the owner of a garage Simpson used to work at.
"He said he (Simpson) was throwing stuff out, loading up the car, and he's got a gun," Barry told the Associated Press. "I flew over there before he left town and grabbed him. It was getting crazy."
A search of Simpson's car would reveal that he had multiple guns, ammunition, handcuffs, zip ties, binoculars and a police radio. Simpson would tell authorities that he was "on his way to Georgia to kill Nancy Grace," according to the Associated Press.
Grace and Velez-Mitchell covered the entirety of the Arias trial. During their five months of coverage much of it was focused on Arias' guilt in the death of her former boyfriend Travis Alexander. Simpson was enraged by their coverage, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press.
The probable cause statement explains Simpson's motivation for making the death threats.
"He provided a full confession and stated he posted everything on Twitter because he was in love with Jodi Arias and he wanted a life with her," the statement said.
Simpson is currently being held in the Maricopa County Jail, the same jail that Arias was housed in during the five-month-long trial.
