An 85-year-old woman survived an armed invasion after shooting and killing the man who broke into her home.
According to police, the home invasion happened at approximately 2 a.m. on March 13. During the attack, the woman was threatened, handcuffed to a chair, and shot several times.
The woman, later identified as Christine Jenneiahn, allegedly knew the suspect, 39-year-old Derek Ephriam Condon.
She Was Sleeping When It Happened
Jenneiahn was asleep in her Bingham County home when the man broke into the house. The only other person in the house was David Jenneiahn, her disabled adult son.
Investigators later found that he had entered the home through a broken window at the back. A screwdriver was also found in the vicinity.
According to Christine, she was woken up by a man wearing a black ski mask and a military jacket, who pointed a flashlight and gun at her face. Police suspect she was also hit in the head with a blunt object as there was blood on her pillow as well as in her room.
He subsequently placed her in handcuffs and took her to the living room, where he handcuffed her to a chair. He demanded to know where she kept her valuables and placed his gun against her head when she told him she didn’t own that much.
After he threatened to kill her, she told the man about the two safes that were kept downstairs. The man then left the living room to go downstairs, rummaging through the rooms.
The man eventually discovered her adult son, who was in a separate room in the house and got angry. He made several additional threats and told her he ‘would kill her’.
He eventually went back downstairs, during which Christine was able to drag the chair she was handcuffed to back into her room. She subsequently retrieved her revolver, which she kept under her pillow.
She then made her way back to the living room, hiding the gun between the cushion of a couch and an armrest, and waited for the man to return.
Christine told investigators that he eventually came back to the living room, during which she shot him twice in the chest with her revolver. The man returned fire and shot her several times in the chest, abdomen, leg, and arm.
The man stumbled into the kitchen and eventually died from his wounds.
Christine, who was still handcuffed, fell to the floor with her injuries, where she stayed for nearly ten hours.
It wasn’t until the following morning that she was able to call 911 after her son came upstairs. Officials immediately responded and provided lifesaving treatment. She was subsequently taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
Following an incident review from prosecutors, the man’s death was ruled a ‘justifiable homicide’, according to witness statements, videos, and photographs.
