September 29, 2021

A Ripley County deputy arrested a man being held at gunpoint in a bedroom floor after responding to a late-night call Sept. 20 about a truck crash and a bizarre home invasion at the end of Highway Y and County Road 21N-18, about 10 miles north of Doniphan...

Ron Smith Staff Writer

A Ripley County deputy arrested a man being held at gunpoint in a bedroom floor after responding to a late-night call Sept. 20 about a truck crash and a bizarre home invasion at the end of Highway Y and County Road 21N-18, about 10 miles north of Doniphan.

Leno Bernard McDonald, 61, Fredericktown, reportedly the driver involved in the crash, was booked at the Wayne County Jail on suspicion of first-degree burglary. He was released Sept. 22 on a personal recognizance bond with special conditions including house arrest and electronic monitoring.

An 82-year-old woman told deputies that she heard a loud noise outside her home shortly before midnight on Monday, Sept. 20. When she opened the front door, she saw a white Dodge Ram pickup had crashed through a fence and struck some trees in her yard. One tree reportedly had fallen on the truck.

The pickup driver was quickly walking back and forth in the yard while saying ‘call the police.’ Alarmed, the woman said she went back inside and locked her door.

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The man walked to a rear door and yelled to be let in before breaking a window and entering the house. He reportedly ran to a bedroom and went inside a closet.

Hearing glass break, the woman said she ran out into the front yard, where her son-in-law and a nephew were arriving after hearing the truck crash from their nearby residences. Armed, the pair entered the house and found the suspect in a bedroom closet. They ordered the man to lie down in the floor until a deputy arrived.

The son-in-law told deputies that McDonald kept saying someone had been chasing him and ramming the back of his pickup truck while he was driving.

According to the deputy, the suspect had several 40 caliber bullets in his pockets and two magazines containing live rounds inside his pickup. However, no firearm was found.

McDonald is scheduled to return to court Oct. 6.

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