Suspect in lawnmower explosion denied bail, ex-landlord says he feared volatile relationship

An observant off-duty state trooper helped end a nearly two-month manhunt Tuesday evening when he spotted a man accused of trying to kill his landlord with a pipe bomb. The suspect was riding a bicycle on a trail in Indiana County.

Trooper Steve Limani said the trooper, who was on the Hoodlebug Trail south of Homer City with his family, was pretty confident the man riding the e-bike was James M. Sever, 54, and called the Indiana state police station.

He was right.

Sever was arrested on the trail around 7 p.m. without incident.

He faces charges of attempted homicide, weapons of mass destruction and related charges in connection with the July 20 explosion in Salem.

“It was good for the community the way that he was taken into custody, excellent for law enforcement and good for him as well … no one was hurt,” Limani said.

The capture also brought a sense of relief to Dave Martin, Sever’s former landlord. On Wednesday, Martin said he was relieved the suspect had been caught.

Sever is accused of attempting to kill Martin with a pipe bomb concealed in a riding lawnmower at the Salem property from which Sever was evicted.

“I’d like to see him stay locked up for a long time,” Martin said.

Sever was denied bail during his arraignment Wednesday morning. He was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison. An attorney was not listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for Monday.

After Sever moved into the home Martin owns along Route 22 just east of the Route 119 interchange, he quickly became a problem.

“I lost a really good tenant and some really valuable tenants that had been there for quite some time,” Martin said. “They just couldn’t get along with (him). He was harassing them basically.”

Eventually, he had Sever evicted June 3 for failing to pay rent. There were a couple run-ins at the property with Sever in the weeks that followed, Martin said. Their relationship had deteriorated.

“It was extremely volatile,” Martin said. “I thought he’d burn my house down.”

Then on July 20, Martin fired up the riding lawnmower and let it run for a bit before getting on it to cut the grass.

“When I leaned into those zero-turn levers for the mower to move forward there was a tremendous explosion,” he said. “And the mower, I think it went a little bit airborne and stood on its nose.”

That set off weeks of searching by state police and other state and federal agencies in the densely wooded area for Sever. Limani estimated more than 1,000 hours were spent looking for him, in addition to costs related to the state police helicopter that was stymied by the tree canopy.

During that ongoing search, the home from which Sever was evicted was destroyed by fire Aug. 22. The blaze appeared to have started on the vacant first floor. A tenant who lived on the second floor was not home at the time.

No charges have been filed.

Limani said authorities believe Sever may have involvement in a suspicious device that was found Aug. 14 on a ramp to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in North Huntingdon. The item in a wooden box appeared to be a pipe that was capped on both ends, Limani said.

Police are still trying to figure out how the device got there and it is being examined at a lab.

“We believe that that device that we found … was most likely associated with something to do with this whole investigation,” he said.

Troopers don’t believe there are any additional suspicious devices in the woods.

When he was arrested Tuesday, Sever had a backpack with survival items and a little bit of cash.

“Right now, we don’t have any information that would lead us to believe that he was being helped,” Limani said. “It appears that he was trying to basically survive in the woods himself, by cleaning himself off in the stream.”

Over the past two months, numerous tips have poured in, but none turned out to be Sever. Limani thanked residents for their patience and awareness.

Public’s help sought

Now, he hopes the public will continue to be on the lookout because Sever didn’t provide any information about his locations during the past two months.

“I think that when the leaves come off the trees and the hunters are in the woods, we’re going to gather probably as much information as we ever could,” he said. “Southwestern Pennsylvania, the one thing that people do out here is hunt, and that’s a huge hunting area.”

Anyone with information about a makeshift campsite in the Derry Township, New Alexandria, Salem and Blairsville areas is asked to take note of where it is, drop a “pin” on a cellphone if possible, and call the Greensburg station at 724-832-3288.

Reward to go unclaimed

As police grew concerned about a potential violent end to the manhunt, a $2,000 reward for information on Sever’s whereabouts was increased to $5,000 after the house fire.

It appears the cash is going to go unclaimed.

Limani said the trooper, based at the Indiana station, who spotted the suspect on the trail “laughed it off and said ‘I have zero desire to collect that, whether I was allowed to collect it or not.’

“So for us, it’s a moot point.”