CT man found guilty of murder of victim decapitated with sword

A Hartford man was found guilty of murder this week in the death of a man found decapitated with a sword in a Hartford home in 2020.

The murder conviction of Jerry Thompson, 45, stems from the July 25, 2020 slaying of Victor King in a home on Asylum Avenue in Hartford.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case, Hartford police responded to King’s home on July 26, 2020, for a well-being check after someone called authorities and said they had not seen King in the past day or so.

The first officers on scene found King lifeless on the floor of his kitchen. He was partially covered by a sheet, according to the warrant affidavit.

King – who worked for Travelers Insurance for more than 20 before retiring in 2018 –  was presumed dead shortly after medics arrived. King was also known as one of the top bridge players in the country, having won a national championship in 2016.

According to the affidavit, Thompson quickly became a suspect, as he had moved into a vacant room in King’s home within the last year before the killing. Friends of King helped identify Thompson as a suspect, according to police.

Police said at the time of killing that detectives believe Thompson used a Samurai sword to cause “severe trauma” to King’s arms, chest, shoulder and neck.

Detectives wrote in the warrant affidavit that King and Thompson had had an argument prior to the killing, during which Thompson allegedly threatened King with a samurai sword during the dispute over rent money, the affidavit said. King had gone to the Hartford Police Department a day before he was found dead to tell them about the alleged threat, police wrote in the affidavit.

Authorities said that the victim and the defendant were roommates, and that the victim had been attempting to have the defendant evicted for failing to pay rent.

During the investigation, detectives went to Farmington River Park in Bloomfield, “where a long Samurai-style sword, consistent with the victim’s wounds, was pulled from the river,” authorities said.

When Thompson was brought in for questioning, the affidavit said, he refused to say anything to detectives and at one point wrote on a piece of paper, “paper in glove compart in Jeep is all you need.” Investigators then found paperwork in the Jeep suggesting Thompson viewed himself as a sovereign citizen – a person who doesn’t view themselves as subject to the law.

Court documents indicate Thompson during his case was ordered multiple times by a judge to undergo a competency evaluation. He was found competent to stand trial, court papers indicate.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 11, 2023 at Superior Court in Hartford.