After family members posted a $250,000 cash bond, Jack Caldwell Sr., who is accused of shooting his neighbor to death last month, has been released from custody and is now staying with his son in Lancaster.
Robert L. Caldwell, who lives at 118 Eastern Ave. in Lancaster, posted the bond for his father on Sept. 8 in the form of two cashier's checks for $170,000 and $80,000. The next day, Boyle District Judge Jeff Dotson changed an earlier ruling to allow the elder Caldwell to stay with his son in Lancaster.
Dotson held Caldwell to a Boyle County grand jury last month on a murder charge stemming from the Aug. 22 shooting death of Jim Trachsel, who lived next to Caldwell on Boone Trial in Danville. The case is scheduled to go before the grand jury Oct. 1.
Police said that a long-running property dispute be-tween the two men prompted Caldwell to open fire on Trachsel with a 22-caliber semi-automatic rifle while Trachsel was mowing his yard. Caldwell's attorneys maintain he was startled by the lawn mower coming up behind him and fired upon Trachsel in self defense.
