75-year-old has heart attack when accused squatters move into home, Arkansas cops say
A 75-year-old man suffered a heart attack after a squatter couple moved into his home and tried to make it their own, Arkansas police say.
A 54-year-old woman and 46-year-old man moved into the house, near Maysville, while homeowner Gary Brankel was at a treatment facility, according to investigators with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies began investigating in late May after receiving a call from Brankel’s caretaker, who discovered the couple living at the home. When the caretaker spoke to him about it, Brankel said he had no idea who the two strangers were and that he hadn’t given anyone permission to stay at the residence in his absence, according to the sheriff’s office.
In an interview with deputies, the woman said she “heard about Brankel’s residence being unoccupied for years” and decided to try to claim it using instructions she searched for on Google.
“She found information on the internet that led her to believe she could obtain the property by paying the property taxes and maintaining the residence and land,” according to deputies.
It’s not clear how long the woman had been staying at the home with her boyfriend, but she provided a deputy with a revenue office receipt from May 1 showing she had paid $162 in assessment fees for the address.
When asked if someone at the revenue office had told her she could take ownership of a home in this way, she said no, according to deputies.
“She was solely going off the information she viewed on the internet,” documents read.
A deputy tried to call Brankel, but his caretaker answered instead, as Brankel was “actively suffering from a heart attack,” documents said. The medical episode was “due to the stress of him worrying about strangers in his residence.”
Outside the home, deputies found a “fresh” burn pile in which numerous items belonging to Brankel were destroyed. While the deputy couldn’t tell what all had been set ablaze, there appeared to be documents and personal items among them.
Deputies arrested the couple on charges of residential burglary, court records show. Residential burglary is a felony charge.
The case was filed in Benton County on June 11, records show.
McClatchy News reached out to an attorney listed for the man and woman, but did not immediately receive a response.
Maysville is a roughly 50-mile drive northwest of Fayetteville.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 8:53 AM with the headline "75-year-old has heart attack when accused squatters move into home, Arkansas cops say."