A 75-year -old man who found an intruder in his Bastrop County home fatally stabbed him with a steak knife, the Bastrop County sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
Marion Lee Hill, a longtime Cedar Creek resident and local business owner, came home Friday night to find a man, identified as 38-year- old Jonathon W. Jones, in his home, officials said. A struggle ensued in Hill’s living room and then moved to the kitchen, where Hill grabbed a steak knife and stabbed Jones in his left arm and chest, officials said.
Hill’s friends and neighbors in the community of Cedar Creek, about 12 miles southeast of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, expressed relief that Hill fought off the intruder, and at least one was not surprised.
“He’s in pretty good shape,” said friend Dwight Hamilton, 61, who says Hill runs a local bar, the Stumble In, as well as a construction business in the Cedar Creek area.
The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that it considers the botched home invasion an isolated case and said there are no charges pending against Hill, who suffered several injuries to his face. The sheriff’s office considers Hill’s actions self-defense but will continue to investigate, said Sissy Jones, executive assistant to Sheriff Terry Pickering.
Hill could not be reached at his business, and no one answered the door Tuesday at his home, at the end of a gravel driveway in the 300 block of Lake View Drive. Neighbors said they were glad to hear it was an isolated incident.
“It’s hard to believe that a 75-year-old overtook a 38-year-old,” said Jasper Simpson, 68, who has lived a few doors down from Hill for 35 years.
Simpson said that although there have been drug problems in the area in the past, it’s a relatively safe place to live.
The sheriff’s office said they received a report of a burglary at Hill’s residence at 11:16 p.m. Friday and learned while en route that the intruder had possibly been stabbed, officials said.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that this was a home invasion,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Mr. Jones was inside the home prior to Mr. Hill’s arrival. A struggle ensued, resulted in the death of Mr. Jones. An autopsy report revealed a fatal stab wound to the chest.”
Hamilton, who has known Hill for about 10 years, said his friend has hosted a local chili cook-off at the Stumble In, which is on Texas 21. And last year, Hill, also a chili connoisseur, won first place in pork ribs for the Central Texas Tolbert Chili Group, said Hamilton, who co-founded the group.
“He’s a good guy,” Hamilton said.
Drive and determination! Being a sheepdog means you have taken the time to decide before hand, how to deal with an incident like this. Running a bar indicates that Mr, Hill may have encountered assaultive behavior before now. Are my SDTS buddies laughing? Did you know that there is a Federal Prison located in Bastrop? Mr. Hill had a reason to be suspicious, and ready. And, he had multiple resources at hand: in addition to some empty handed skills (come on, a bar?), he also knew his territory and used the kitchen knife to his advantage. A martial arts buddy tells me that a good knife is the equivalent of 10 years of martial arts training. What do you think?
Nice 30,000 foot view of the situation. Having a prison in town means his bar is probably one of the first stops for recently liberated transgressors.
Your comment reminds me of the guys (and girls) who stash weapons all over their houses…which OK, I’m not against, but when you pass through your kitchen to get the knife you hid under the couch…you need to re-evaluate your tactic.
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