BEDFORD – A 71 year-old Iowa man who was held captive with his 66 year-old wife by an escaped convict in rural southern Iowa shot and killed the suspect Tuesday with a shotgun, CNN reported.
Jerome and Carolyn Mauderly were sleeping in their home in rural Bedford, Iowa, when escaped inmate Rodney Long, 38, broke in, an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman said. Long held the couple hostage for hours before Jerome Mauderly retrieved a shotgun and shot Long in the torso, killing him.
Long had escaped from a minimum custody lodge in the early morning hours of Friday, August 16, 2013.
Sunday evening, at approximately11:25 PM, Taylor County deputies were dispatched to a “suspicious person” walking along Highway 2 just east of New Market, Iowa. Deputy Dan Wyckoff was the first to respond. As Deputy Wyckoff was exiting his vehicle to speak with the individual, he was met with gunfire and shot twice. As Deputy Wyckoff was taking cover, the suspect, Rodney Eugene Long, took the patrol vehicle and left the scene. Wyckoff remains hospitalized, but is in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.
Authorities continued to search the Bedford, Iowa area for Long, even as he took the elderly couple hostage.
“The Mauderlys feared for their life. They had a real fear that he was going to kill them,” the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman said.