Decatur police are investigating a possible assault after an elderly man’s neighbor found him with his neck and ribs broken and blood in separate rooms of the house.
George Richardson, 71, remained in Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mo., on Tuesday night in stable condition, almost a week after he and his family said he was attacked in his home by two men in the early morning hours of Nov. 20. Decatur police said they are investigating the incident, but no one has yet been arrested.
Kimberly Stines entered Richardson’s house on Massey Street on Nov. 20 after seeing his door wide open. She used to live a few houses down from the man and said she was in the neighborhood checking on a tenant who rents a home from her.
Stines immediately noticed the kitchen chairs overturned and blood on the nearby sink. She said she also saw the bottom part of Richardson’s dentures on the floor. When Stines went to Richardson’s bedroom to check on him, calling for him along the way, she found him lying in bed with an abrasion above his left eye and an open wound on his arm, she said.
A brick with blood on it was near the head of the bed, she said.
Stines would later find out Richardson sustained a C-1 spinal fracture and broken ribs, she and the family said.
She woke Richardson, who asked her whether the men who had allegedly broken in had left. Richardson said he woke up to two Hispanic teenage males in his bedroom. One had a cell phone and said they were there to “take care of you,” while the other beat him, Richardson allegedly told police and family members, said Becky Krugler, Richardson’s daughter.
Richardson later woke up when Stines entered the house and told her about attack. Stines and Krugler said they are not sure whether police believe the incident actually happened. Decatur police told 5NEWS they are investigating.
An investigating detective with Decatur police met with Stines on Wednesday and asked for photographs Stines took of the scene when she went into Richardson’s house, Stines said. She said police also took their own photographs of the scene.
Stines and Krugler said although Richardson sometimes has physical problems, he has no history of mental issues. Krugler said the family is nervous to send the man back to his home, in case the men come back.
Police found nothing missing from the scene. All of Richardson’s medications and money were still in the house and had not been disturbed, Stines and Krugler said. The women said they are not sure what the motivation could have been for the alleged home break-in and assault.
Richardson is using a neck brace and a feeding tube, and will likely not need surgery, Krugler said.
