USA News Hub

Mr. C.J. Young cared for Nathan Zeigler like a son, lending him his home for nearly 20 years without fee. However, when Young attempted to reclaim his home, things didn’t go so well. Now, Zeigler is on the first thing smoking to prison for the rest of his life.

The incident happened on Jan 7, 2022 when Dorchester County Sheriff’s deputies went to a home on Johnson Road after a reported homicide.

Moments prior, police said C.J. Young, 82, was in a verbal dispute with his friend of over twenty years, 64-year-old Nathan Zeigler.

According to the First Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Zeigler was like a son to Mr. Young, who lent him his home in Dorchester for two decades without charging him rent after moving to New York. However, tensions appeared to grow between the two when Young retired and returned home to live with Zeigler. The disagreement on Jan. 7 got so heated, Young called 911 and begged to send dispatchers to the home.

Police said this was one of the several times they had to respond to the home after Young moved back from New York, per WCBD-TV Charleston. However, this was the last time. While the 911 line was still open, gunshots rang out and Young went silent.

“I told you I wasn’t playing with you,” Zeigler was heard saying on the call.

Police say by the time they got to the home, they found Young dead on the floor of his kitchen with a gun wound to the neck. Police said they found Zeigler in the backyard after he’d stashed his handgun inside a grill.

Just like that, 20 years of friendship down the drain and even more for Zeigler to spend behind bars. Nearly two years after the killing, Zeigler was found guilty in the murder of his friend and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.