85-year-old Christine Jenneiahn was hailed by prosecutors for her “grit, determination, and will to live” for her actions after Derek Condon allegedly handcuffed her to a chair and threatened to kill her during a “violent home invasion.”
An 85-year-old woman from Idaho will not face charges for killing a man prosecutors say threatened her life during a home invasion last month.
Bingham County Prosecutor Ryan Jolley reviewed the incident, ultimately deciding Christine Jenneiahn was “justified in taking any and all means necessary to defend herself and her son” the night she shot and killed alleged home invader Derek Condon (pictured above) last month.
In his incident review, which was shared to Facebook by the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, Jolley laid out the truly harrowing events — revealing how Condon outsmarted her alleged attacker in the middle of the night, while her disabled son was also in the house.
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According to prosecutors, citing Jenneiahn’s statements and an investigation, the incident went down around 2:00am on March 13, 2024. Both Christine and her “disabled son David” were home and asleep at the time, when a man later identified as Condon “who was dressed in a military jacket, black ski mask, and pointing a gun and flashlight at” Jenneiahn woke her up.
The report stated blood evidence suggests Condon “likely” struck Christine in the head as she lay in bed, before putting her in handcuffs and taking her to another room, where he then handcuffed her to a wooden chair.
“Condon then asked her where the valuables were kept in the home, and he placed his pistol against her head after she told him she didn’t have much,” read the review, with the county prosecutor saying Jenneiahn told Condon about two safes downstairs. While searching for the valuables, Condon allegedly became aware Jenneiahn’s son was also home “and became angry with Christine for not telling him,” before threatening to kill her.
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“At one point while Condon was downstairs, Christine drug the chair she was handcuffed to into her bedroom, and retrieved her 357 magnum revolver from under her pillow,” the official account continued. “She then went back into the living room and hid the revolver between the arm rest and cushion of a couch next to where she was seated and waited to see what Condon did next.”
The report noted Jenneiahn’s memory of what happened next “remains somewhat unclear,” but said she “ultimately made the decision that it was ‘now or never'” when he returned to the living room — and that’s when she drew her weapon and shot him twice. He reportedly returned fire, hitting Jenneiahn in the abdomen, leg, arm, and chest — before retreating to the kitchen, where he died. Jenneiahn, meanwhile, remained handcuffed to the chair for about 10 hours before her son came downstairs, gave her a phone and she called 911. She was then treated for her wounds and survived.
A later investigation found Condon’s car near Jenneiahn’s home, with footprints leading toward the victim’s house, as well as a screwdriver by a broken window at the back of Christine’s house. On Condon’s body, police found “a lock pick set, his car key, a handcuff key, and a bag containing items he had stolen from the residence.”
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Jolley concluded Jenneiahn had acted in self defense and Condon’s death was justifiable homicide, according to Idaho law, saying the incident “also presents one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation I have ever heard of.”
Summing up the night’s alleged events to support his decision, he wrote, “Condon was still in the act of his violent home invasion when Christine chose to engaged him with deadly force. He had told Christine that he would kill her multiple times. He had broken into her home in the middle of the night, handcuffed her to a chair, and struck her with his firearm. Her disabled son was downstairs in his room. She is also 85 years old. Any reasonable person would believe it necessary to defend themselves or their disabled son under such circumstances.”
“That Christine survived this encounter is truly incredible. Her grit, determination, and will to live appear to be what saved her that night,” Jolley wrote, saying she was “justified in taking any and all means necessary to defend herself and her son that night.”
His review ended by saying that, had Condon survived, he’d be facing charges for attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary, aggravated battery and grand theft.
Per East Idaho News, Jenneiahn has been released from the hospital.
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