HARTFORD, Conn. — A Hartford man who decapitated his landlord, and was also his roommate, with a Samurai-style sword in 2020 has been sentenced to prison.
A jury found 45-year-old Jerry Thompson guilty last month, convicting him of the murder of Victor King.
Thompson and King were roommates at a home on Asylum Avenue in Hartford. King, a landlord, had been trying to have Thompson evicted for failing to pay rent, according to evidence presented during the trial.
In the early hours of July 25, 2020, King had made a complaint to Hartford police's tip line stating that Thompson was threatening him with a sword and that he would also make an in-person complaint.
Several hours later, King called 911 again, reporting that Thompson had threatened him.
Later that morning, Thompson was seen on surveillance video parking his jeep near the home and walking toward the front door with a long object. The footage showed Thompson returning to his Jeep wearing different clothing about 20 minutes later.
Additional video and witness testimony showed Thompson returning to the home around 11:30 p.m. the same day.
The next day, neighbors and friends of King were growing alarmed when he didn't perform regularly scheduled chores and didn't respond to any text messages or phone calls.
King's friends and family asked police to enter the home for a wellness check.
When police, with the assistance of Hartford fire crews, got to the house, they found King under blankets in the kitchen, decapitated.
Hartford detectives got to work looking for Thompson. During the investigation, they went to Farmington River Park in Bloomfield, where they found a long Samurai-style toward which they said was "consistent with [King's] wounds" and pulled it from the river.
After Thompson was arrested, he reportedly told detectives he was a "sovereign citizen," a term used by some who assert that the U.S. government is illegitimate and its laws don't bind to them.
Thompson was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison on the murder conviction.
Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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