Hamilton burglar foiled by homeowner’s Louisville Slugger

A retired couple got a surprise last Friday when they discovered that somebody was trying to burglarize their home.

The man trying to steal from them got an even a bigger surprise: a blow to the head from a Louisville Slugger baseball bat to stop the crime in progress.

Heaton and Judy Napier live in the 800 block of Sycamore Street, and they heard something suspicious in their garage early Friday morning.

“We had bought an inexpensive motion detector for extra security, and we were alerted that someone was in our garage,” Judy Napier explained.

She said they had noticed a recent Journal-News article about crime in the area. They, like others, want to rid the area of drugs, drug dealers and other crime.

“I had been hit in the eye before during a robbery and was lucky the injury didn’t cause permanent damage,” Judy Napier said.

After being alerted by the motion detector, the couple notified police and went out to see what was happening in their garage.

The lock on the garage had been cut the Napiers noticed, but when police arrived, the person had left the premises, according to Officer Kristy Collins.

But the person decided to return, and he ran right into the couple as he was trying to finish his heist.

“He saw us and then he charged right towards us with something in his hands,” Judy Napier recalled. “He probably didn’t realize my husband is a retired construction worker who had a baseball bat.”

Heaton delivered a couple of blows to the head and ribs and the suspect, later identified as Ted Marcum, 48, of Hamilton, who ran for a few blocks with his head wound and sore ribs before being apprehended by police.

Collins said that Marcum was transported to Fort Hamilton Hospital with his injuries, and then later he appeared in Hamilton Municipal Court facing charges of breaking and entering, possession of drug abuse instruments (a metal pipe was under his coat) and obstructing official business. He will be back in court Wednesday in front of Judge Daniel Gattermeyer.

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