Man kills neighbour for ‘complaining about his loud snoring’

A 55-year-old man in US state of Pennsylvania allegedly killed his neighbour when the latter went to his home to complain about his persistent “loud snoring” – which the victim had complained he could hear through the walls connecting their homes.

The man – identified as Christopher Casey – was arrested for fatally stabbing 62-year-old Robert Wallace on Sunday evening when an argument over the incessant and loud snoring turned deadly, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

The two men lived next to each other in Borough of Hatboro, Pennsylvania, sharing a common bedroom wall.

Prosecutors noted that the conflict had been ongoing for the past 18 months, with Upper Moreland Police responding to multiple calls related to disputes between the two men over Casey’s disruptive snoring.

On that night, Wallace showed up at Casey’s residence in Hatboro and knocked on his window while threatening to kill him due to the snoring disturbance.

The situation escalated when Wallace forcibly pushed open Casey’s first-floor window, leading to a heated argument that lasted around 20 minutes.

Casey then walked outside and stabbed Wallace at least three times in the chest, while also accidentally injuring himself in the leg during the altercation.

Wallace, who was found lying on the ground 50 feet from his home, was taken to Abington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Casey was also taken to the same hospital and treated for a self-inflicted stab wound to his right thigh, prosecutors added.

Police found blood both inside and outside of the residence. Police also found the knife and a phone on the front porch of Mr Casey’s home.

Casey was arrested on Thursday, after a forensic pathologist determined Wallace’s cause of death to be multiple stab wounds, and ruled that the death was homicide.

He was charged with Third-Degree Murder, Voluntary Manslaughter and Possessing an Instrument of Crime. He was arraigned by the Court of Common Pleas Judge Wendy Rothstein, who set bail at $1m, according to the DA’s office.