Rodney Long, 38, escaped prison and shortly after 10pm on Monday, he took the 71-year-old Jerome Maudley and wife Carolyn, 66, hostage after finding the couple asleep in their isolated house near Bedford, Iowa, reports The Des Moines Register.Long took away the loaded shotgun Jerome Maudley kept next to his bed and disabled their landline phones. When Long left the couple alone to look for supplies upstairs at around 2am, the Maudleys sprang into action: Carolyn called 911 on a bedroom phone Long had missed, while Jerome retrieved his shotgun. When Long came back, Jerome shot him in the torso, killing him. The couple will not be charged. "The Maudleys feared for their life," said a Division of Criminal Investigation spokesperson. [BJS]
