A man suspected of robbing and beating an elderly Redding woman in her home remains at large. At 3:26AM Sunday morning Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to the home of 81-year-old Eutropia Ledford on Leon Lane off Harleigh-Leighton. Two men had come in to her house, bound her with duct tape and used an unknown object to beat her in the face. They demanded to know where her money was and eventually rifled through her purse and left with her cash and credit cards. She said the ordeal lasted about 15 or 20 minutes. She was transported to a hospital to be treated for facial swelling and bruising. Although Ledford wasn’t sure who the robbers were, she mentioned the name of Justin Ezell, a local homeless man. He had recently been frequenting her property and was suspected of a burglary there last week. Area law enforcement was told to be on the lookout for Ezell. At 10:20AM Sunday morning he was found near the Pine Street Safeway and interviewed by a detective, but he had to be released for lack of evidence linking him to the robbery. As the investigation got deeper, it was learned that Ledford’s credit card had been used all over town Sunday morning, including to buy gas at Clear Creek Market. A review of surveillance video showed 37-year-old Nelson James Gleed pumping gas into a maroon Pontiac van, then driving it away to the south toward Win-River Casino. Security there was asked to review their video and, sure enough, just minutes after the gas purchase the van had shown up at the casino with Gleed and Ezell. Detectives were on their way to the casino when the same van pulled into the lot with Gleed and a woman who detectives say was not involved. She was released and, although it’s not believed that Gleed was one of the two robbers, he was arrested for using Ledford’s credit card at the market. Detectives spent the rest of Sunday and all day Monday scouring camps and contacting more than a hundred homeless people, but none could point them to Ezell. They did learn the identity of the other presumed robber as 27-year-old Ethan Mark Taylor. He’s on parole for robbing the South Market Street Dutch Bros in 2013. He was found under Highway 44 where it crosses Churn Creek and booked into jail. A $500,000 warrant has been issued for Ezell.
