CINCINNATI -- Police said this kind of crime is rare in Mariemont.
Police found a man in his home Sunday bound by tape at his ankles and bleeding from head wounds, according to the Mariemont Police Department.
When they responded to Richard Sininger’s home around 6 p.m. Sunday, police said the 74-year-old’s eyes were swollen shut from impact.
The 911 caller, a neighbor, said Sininger told her someone rang his doorbell, got into his home and beat him up.
“He said he had been lying there for a while,” she said. “He had a hard time just dialing me.”
Officer Stephen Watt from Mariemont Police Department said police were at the scene within minutes.
“When the officers got into the front room of the residence, he was sitting there bound by duct tape on his ankles and said that he had been bound and beaten and that’s all he remembered,” Watt said.
Watt said it was unusual that there was no sign of forced entry and robbery did not appear to be a motive.
“As far as the officers could tell there was nothing missing — TV, other valuables were laying around in open sight,” Watt said. “So, we’re still puzzled on why and what happened.”
Residents are just as puzzled as police.
Gwen Hawk lives four doors down from Sininger. She said people in the neighborhood are generally friendly, but Sunday’s incident has her thinking twice.
“It makes me a little bit scared,” Hawk said. “ It makes me look at little more closely at the people I see walking around here.”
Investigators aren’t sure if they’re looking for one, two or more persons involved in the assault, and they have no descriptions of suspects.
While investigators don’t have any leads, police said they’re certain someone saw or heard something that could help crack this case.
“Talk to your neighbors,” Watts said. “It’s that one little clue that we’re looking for that would add that piece of the puzzle because right now we’re looking at an empty puzzle.”
Sininger has been released from the hospital, but because he was hit in the head, police say he is having a difficult time remembering what happened.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call Crimestoppers at (513)-352-3040.
