Background: A section of the 1100 block of Oakmont Court in Culpeper, Va. (Google Maps). Insets (from left to right): Gail Chevalier and Louis Chevalier Sr. (Culpeper Police Department).
A Virginia couple in their 70s are accused of luring their neighbor to their property before using a leaf blower and hammer to beat him unconscious amid a longtime fight over the shared property line.
Louis Chevalier Sr., 70, and Gail Chevalier, 72, are each charged with malicious wounding, the Culpeper Police Department told Law&Crime. The law enforcement agency announced their arrests this week "in connection with [an] assault."
The Chevaliers live on the 1100 block of Oakmont Court in Culpeper, Virginia, which is about 70 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. They had an ongoing feud with a neighbor — a 73-year-old man — over a property line between them.
The defendants used a leaf blower to purposefully blow grass onto the neighbor's property to upset him, authorities said, per regional Fox affiliate WTTG. On the morning of July 17, they lured the man into their yard, and when he got there, they began to beat him, police said.
Officers said one of the suspects bit the man's finger and that Louis Chevalier "admitted to gouging the victim's eye with his finger." Investigators also allege that "the victim was struck repeatedly with a hammer — leaving patterned marks consistent with both the head and claw of the tool — and that Gail Chevalier struck the victim multiple times in the back of the head with a leaf blower."
It was reportedly the Chevaliers who called 911 after the fight, claiming they acted in self-defense. Officers arrived at the victim's house to find him unconscious inside, "suffering from severe bruising, multiple lacerations, and active bleeding from several wounds." He was treated by medical personnel, received six stitches, "and was diagnosed with a laceration and depression to the back of his skull, along with numerous additional bruises, lacerations, and a concussion."
Medical staff reportedly said that the man "may have sustained permanent injury." He remains in the hospital.
As investigators learned about the property dispute, they say they "recovered the victim's blood on Louis Chevalier Sr.'s shirt, on the hammer, and at the scene." Detectives believe the suspects "used paper towels to clean the victim's blood from their persons, which were later recovered inside their residence."
The Chevaliers were arrested and booked into jail without bond.
Culpeper Police Chief Nicholas White told WTTG that such an incident is "very unusual" for the town, "particularly an elderly subject."
"They live in a relatively quiet neighborhood," he added. "There are some pretty hard feelings between these two particular neighbors that led to this particular event."