Welcome to Arrest Stories. A fifty-four-year-old man has been arrested after a fifty-eight-day manhunt for allegedly rigging his former landlord's lawnmower with a pipe bomb that exploded when the victim tried to start it. Here's what may have happened.
James Sever was taken into custody Tuesday on the Hoodlebug Trail near Homer City in Indiana County, ending a massive search that spanned nearly two months across the densely wooded areas of Derry Township. An off-duty state trooper spotted Sever riding an e-bike along the trail, bringing an end to his time on the run.
The incident began July nineteenth when cell phone data shows Sever spent nearly fifty minutes near his former landlord's property in Salem Township. The next day, July twentieth, the explosive device detonated with devastating results.
The victim filled his zero-turn lawnmower with gas in his garage and started the engine, letting it idle for about ten seconds. When he leaned into the zero-turn levers to move the mower forward, catastrophe struck.
"I turned the key, it started, I let it warm up, and when I leaned into those zero-turn levers for the mower to move forward, there was a tremendous explosion. And the mower, I think, it went a little bit airborne and stood on its nose," the victim recalled.
State troopers seized numerous pieces of metal shrapnel scattered throughout the garage. The victim described the device as "like a pipe with caps on the ends of it" that had been placed underneath the mower.
The alleged motive stems from Sever's eviction from the rental property for failing to pay rent for three months. During the eviction process, the landlord had warned him, "You cannot come back on this property. You're going to get yourself hurt."
For fifty-eight days, Sever evaded capture by camping in wooded areas with survival equipment. Authorities struggled to locate him, with one official stating, "We had no one that came forward and said they saw him or talked to him."
Sever has been denied bail.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.