Bound, robbed elderly man also suffered chemical burns
CORAOPOLIS (AP) – An 81-year-old Western Pennsylvania man found dead in bed and bound with wire ties had also been burned with a chemical.
Allegheny County police and the medical examiner’s office aren’t identifying the chemical that burned Thomas Nicholson before he was found in his Kennedy Township home Tuesday afternoon.
Nicholson was found about 4 p.m. by a neighbor who frequently checked on him. Police believe Nicholson was robbed, but haven’t specified what was taken.
Nicholson died of “physical assault and ligature restraint,” but with heart and circulatory problems as contributing causes, the medical examiner’s office determined. Plastic wire ties had been used to bind his hands and feet, police said.
Authorities have said there weren’t any signs of forced entry, but neighbors said that could be because Nicholson routinely kept his doors unlocked to encourage visitors.
Bill Ostapchenko, who runs a tire shop across the street, said Nicholson’s visitors routinely included people who cut his grass or ran other errands.
“All of them were friends and relatives,” Ostapchenko said. Those folks would lock the door as they left, but Nicholson would unlock the door soon after.
“What he said was he wanted people to come and visit him,” Ostapchenko said.
Police haven’t charged or named any suspects in his death. He was last seen alive by a neighbor on Monday.
Thea Justice, one neighbor who regularly checked on Nicholson, said he was in failing health and had lived alone in the house after his wife died several years ago.
“I don’t know why they did what they did,” Justice said of whoever killed Nicholson. “There’s no reason for what happened.”