According to eyewitnesses, an Ohio man was heard demanding the keys to a Jeep that was being towed behind a Missouri couple’s RV before he viciously attacked them, stabbing both and killing the man at an Interstate 80 rest area.
On Thursday morning, James Thompson Jr, 22, was officially charged with first-degree murder and 10 other felonies, a day after the attack at a rest area near Grand Island in eastern Nebraska.Thompson, who hails from Elyria, Ohio, is being represented by a Hall County public defender.
Sgt. Joshua Moline of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office stated in an affidavit filed in court that a portion of the attack was recorded on a trucker’s dash cam, while some of it occurred out of sight inside Gary and Mary Weaver‘s RV around 7 am Wednesday. The video footage showed a man entering the RV and making stabbing motions toward the woman before moving out of view. When the woman exited the RV, the man followed and stabbed her multiple times in the head before she collapsed to the ground, briefly pausing to shout at the trucker in the semi.
Inside the RV, deputies discovered Gary Weaver with wounds to his chest and head. The 72-year-old later succumbed to his injuries at a Grand Island hospital. Mary Weaver, 71, was found sitting on the ground beside the RV, bleeding. Initially in critical condition with what the sheriff described as life-threatening injuries, her condition has since improved to stable as of Thursday.
The Jeep, which had been detached from the RV, had blood on it. The Weavers, who are from Eureka, Missouri, had been traveling through Nebraska when they were attacked.
Before officers arrived at the rest area, Thompson fled in a Ford Focus. However, a Nebraska State Trooper quickly spotted him exiting the highway at Wood River. Thompson sped away at 120 mph over I-80, passing another driver before crashing into the Platte River. He was apprehended nearby, with blood on his shirt and several cuts on his hand.
On Thursday morning, James Thompson Jr, 22, was officially charged with first-degree murder and 10 other felonies, a day after the attack at a rest area near Grand Island in eastern Nebraska.Thompson, who hails from Elyria, Ohio, is being represented by a Hall County public defender.
Sgt. Joshua Moline of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office stated in an affidavit filed in court that a portion of the attack was recorded on a trucker’s dash cam, while some of it occurred out of sight inside Gary and Mary Weaver‘s RV around 7 am Wednesday. The video footage showed a man entering the RV and making stabbing motions toward the woman before moving out of view. When the woman exited the RV, the man followed and stabbed her multiple times in the head before she collapsed to the ground, briefly pausing to shout at the trucker in the semi.
Inside the RV, deputies discovered Gary Weaver with wounds to his chest and head. The 72-year-old later succumbed to his injuries at a Grand Island hospital. Mary Weaver, 71, was found sitting on the ground beside the RV, bleeding. Initially in critical condition with what the sheriff described as life-threatening injuries, her condition has since improved to stable as of Thursday.
The Jeep, which had been detached from the RV, had blood on it. The Weavers, who are from Eureka, Missouri, had been traveling through Nebraska when they were attacked.
Before officers arrived at the rest area, Thompson fled in a Ford Focus. However, a Nebraska State Trooper quickly spotted him exiting the highway at Wood River. Thompson sped away at 120 mph over I-80, passing another driver before crashing into the Platte River. He was apprehended nearby, with blood on his shirt and several cuts on his hand.
