From Court Documents
A Hardy man is behind bars after making threats to his neighbors. Daniel Collins, 51, of Hwy. 175 in Hardy was arrested on Sept. 16 on seven felony charges.
According to the Probable Cause Affidavit for the warrant, Sharp County Sheriff Department’s Lt. Bryce Trivitt met with Kenneth and Tammie Fowler, who had purchased property at 149 Fire Tower Road in Hardy. The couple relayed to Trivitt that on Sept. 6, they were clearing a fence line on their new property when Collins stopped in the road and confronted the couple and their son, Dustin Barnes, about the work they were doing. Collins claimed ownership of the property. After a heated verbal altercation with the family, Collins returned to his vehicle and placed a gun on his hip, patting it and making eye contact with the son, in an attempt to allegedly intimidate him. As Trivitt was working on charges on the incident, a second incident took place with the Fowlers’ neighbor’s shop.
On Sept. 16, Trivitt met with neighbors of the Fowlers, Richard Woodson and Dennis Johnson at the sheriff’s department. The men told Trivitt that on the night of Sept. 15, Collins and his father, Johnny, came into Johnson’s shop at 155 Fire Tower Road in Hardy. Daniel told them how sick of the Fowlers he was. Collins then told the men said he was going to kill his neighbors (Fowlers). “He stated that killing them would be easy, that instead he would cut their guts open to where they would have to carry their own guts in their arms,” according to Trivitt’s Probable Cause Affidavit.
In Trivitt’s affidavit, he stated that Collins not only has the means to do such things but also appeared to also have the mentality to do so.
Collins has been charged with three counts of terroristic threatening, a Class D Felony and three counts of Aggravated Assault, a Class D Felony.
Collins bond has not yet been set.
