Inset: Keith Rowe (Grayson County Detention Center). Background: The lake near where Rowe violently attacked a real estate agent in Falls of Rough, Ky. (Google Maps).
A Kentucky man will be spending significant time behind bars for attacking a real estate agent who showed him a home last summer.
On Friday, Keith Rowe, 71, pleaded guilty to one count each of robbery, unlawful imprisonment, terroristic threatening, and assault.
In quick fashion, the defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison, including five years of probation and six months of home incarceration, when he is released from custody.
The underlying incident occurred on June 18, 2025, at a lake house in Falls of Rough – an unincorporated community located some 95 miles southwest of Louisville.
At some point during the showing, Rowe brutally attacked the elderly real estate agent, locked him inside the house, demanded he "write up the contract and sign the home over to him," and threatened to kill him if he did not comply, the Grayson County Sheriff's Office told Louisville-based ABC affiliate WHAS at the time.
Rowe told the victim that the contract for the house, which was going for $225,000, was for his niece, according to court documents obtained by Louisville-based Fox affiliate WDRB.
Next, the defendant demanded that the victim hand over his phone or he would "beat his brains in," authorities said.
Though the victim gave up his phone, he told Rowe he could not write up a contract without his computer – which was in his own home across the street. After that, Rowe demanded the pair cross the street together – warning the victim against getting into his car.
The defendant said that should the victim try to escape, he would "tie a rope around his neck and drag him with his 4-wheeler." Rowe then pointed to a rope attached to the 4-wheeler he drove to the showing.
Rowe and the real estate agent made it into the second home, where the victim began typing on his computer. While the victim typed, the defendant pulled out a pocketknife and said he was going to kill the victim once the contract had been completed.
Finally, the real estate agent finished the contract and handed it to the defendant, who sat down to read the document at the kitchen table. The victim took this opportunity to stand up and make his way toward a foyer to the kitchen and then the front door.
Law enforcement said the real estate agent seriously feared for his life – believing that if he stayed in the house any longer, he would have been killed. Upon leaving the house, the victim raced to his car and drove directly to the sheriff's office, covered in blood and bruises.
The defendant, for his part, was located by family later that same evening and eventually turned himself in. Rowe largely agreed with the sequence of events described by the real estate agent, authorities said.
Now, he's persona non grata in the jurisdiction where the attack occurred.
"Rowe is not to step foot in Grayson County and have no contact or communication with the victim in this case unless it is ordered by the court," Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins said.
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