Man Stabs Neighbor To Death After Argument For Stepping On Her Dog: Police

A woman was found stabbed to death in Jackson County, Indiana, following an argument with her alleged killer over her dog.

Daniel Lee Baldwin, 62, is accused of killing 74-year-old Sandra Luedeman on Sept. 26 after the victim yelled at him for stepping on her dog at the Jamestown Apartments in the city of Seymour, WAVE 3 reported.

Police received a 911 call that day from a woman who found Luedeman lying bleeding in the hallway of an apartment building, a report by local outlet The Republic said. Responding officers attempted to administer first aid to the elderly woman, but they were unable to save her, according to a probable cause affidavit signed by Detective Michael Henley.

Luedeman had been stabbed seven times, the affidavit filed in Jackson Circuit Court showed. An autopsy conducted at Schneck Medical Center on the same day showed she died as a result of multiple stab wounds.

Police arrested Baldwin in the nearby area of Oak Street and Jackson Park Drive around the time Luedeman was found bleeding to death. Witnesses saw Baldwin covered in blood and asking for help, claiming he stabbed someone, police said.

Baldwin told an officer he "blacked out" when the victim started yelling at him after he stepped on her dog, according to an arrest affidavit for Baldwin. The suspect also told police he could not remember if he had stabbed or cut Luedeman, who lived in the same building as him.

"To me, he should’ve never been there," the victim's son, Patrick Luedeman, told WAVE. "You sometimes say you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was at her home. It was the wrong time, but he should have never been there."

Baldwin was booked into the Jackson County Jail on a murder charge. He claimed he has "brain issues" from a previous incident where he killed his stepfather with a pickax, police said.

"My mother had called multiple times about this man to the police," the victim's son said. "It takes somebody to get murdered for somebody to say, 'We're going to pursue this.' It's too late now, you can't bring her back. This lady pleaded for help."

Baldwin does not have any prior arrests in Jackson, Jennings or Batholomew counties in recent years and has not served time with the Indiana Department of Corrections, records showed.

The victim's dog has been taken in by another family, her son said.

A fundraiser was launched to help the family with the victim's funeral expenses.