911 CALL: Upstate man finds nuclear plant intruder suspect in bed
CENTRAL, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A 911 call released by Pickens County officials sheds new light on how a resident helped catch a man accused of crashing a car through the gate of the Oconee Nuclear Station.
The call, which was obtained by FOX Carolina through a Freedom of Information Act request, was placed by a man near Jones Mill Road on Nov. 3 around 5:30 p.m. The caller said he entered a vacant home on his property to find a stranger in his bed.
“I walked in the house and there’s some guy laid in the bed with a sleeping bag in my house,” the man tells Pickens County dispatchers.
Investigators said they later determined the man was 66-year-old Doyle Whisenhunt, who was the focus of a manhunt after he crashed his Toyota Camry through the gate of the Oconee Nuclear Station the night prior. He had been in the house overnight.
The homeowner held the suspect at gunpoint during the 8-minute 911 call.
“I actually have a gun drawn on him just standing here,” he told the dispatcher. “I don’t know what you got and I’m not losing my life today. You’re in my house, sir.”
Whisenhunt had reportedly rifled through the home and put on camouflage coveralls belonging to the homeowner. Multiple times during the call, he can be heard in the background saying he thought the house was abandoned.
“You think it’s okay just to walk in people’s houses,” the caller asks the suspect. “It don’t matter if it looks deserted or not, the ******* power’s on, ain’t it?”
The homeowner put down his weapon when deputies arrived and arrested Whisenhunt, who is charged with attempted murder, unlawful entry, and hit-and-run with property damage.
A motive for the incident at the Oconee Nuclear Station has not yet been released, but investigators said Whisenhunt had methamphetamine in his possession when he was booked into the detention center.
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