After nearly 2 months and more than 1,000 man-hours of searching, state troopers took James Sever into custody Tuesday night. The landlord, who troopers say was being targeted by Sever after he evicted him from his property, told Channel 11 he’s relieved.
Dave Martin said his relationship with his Sever has been rocky for a long time.
“It was extremely volatile,” he said.
Earlier this year, Martin said Sever was three months behind on rent. A charity paid it, and then he was three months behind again.
So, Martin had him evicted. Sever came back to the house on July 18.
“He comes up to me and says, ‘We’re still buddies, right?’ No! We’re not buddies!” Martin said.
Two days later, Martin, who lives 100 miles away, came back to mow the lawn. He started his riding mower and went to move the levers to drive it, and a pipe bomb underneath, which troopers said was placed there by Sever, exploded.
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“My eyeballs have hurt since then,” Sever said. “I don’t know what the deal is with that.”
Martin said for the last two months, he’s slept with a gun nearby in case Sever ever showed up. Tuesday night, he got texts from his friends saying he’d been arrested.
“They all said they got him, they got him, they got him,” he said.
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An off-duty trooper in Indiana County spotted Sever riding an e-bike on the Hoodlebug Trail in Center Township. He called the barracks and an on-duty officer spotted him 10 minutes later.
Sever is due in court on Monday.
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