In the middle of a quiet neighborhood in the Utah mining town of Helper, tensions flared between two ex-military personnel. In October 2019, the longstanding dispute finally erupted in a violent altercation. The Fear Thy Neighbor: The Filth and the Fury program on Investigation Discovery details the developing dispute between Max Heino and his neighbor Rikhard Tallent, which ultimately ended in tragedy. If you were curious about what happened in this scenario, don’t worry; We’ll cover you.
How did Max Heino die?
Max Edwin Heino was born in the state of Utah in April 1934 and was a native Utahn. After serving in the US Army, he later found work in the mining industry in Carbon County, Utah. In November 1954, Max Della married Jean Wilson, and the two enjoyed a comfortable and fruitful marriage for over half a century. He looked forward to spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren, and going fishing and hunting with them. In the years leading up to the event, Max and Jean had settled in Helper, Utah, where they enjoyed a comfortable retirement.
The incident happened on October 17, 2019, and both Max and his wife were injured in an argument with a neighbor. Max’s behavior began to change the next day and he required medical attention as a result. Jean, on the other hand, was fine. At that time it became known on the show that the then 85-year-old senior had been struggling with dementia and diabetes for some time. In the days that followed, he saw a precipitous decline in his health and died on October 25, 2019. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was an explosion in the brain caused by a blood clot caused by the attack. According to the episode, the coroner concluded that the death was the result of homicide.
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Was Max Heino killed in the incident?
Max’s neighbor was a man named Rikhard Tallent. He, too, had served in the military, although he kept to himself most of the time. According to the broadcast, the original source of tension between the neighbors was the mailbox. Rikhard had removed Heinos’ mailbox and replaced it with his own, which he had set up on the stand shared by both houses. Max and Jean chose to ignore the problem, but it kept getting worse. The way Rikhard interacted with other people in the neighborhood gave the impression that he was being paranoid. Rikhard’s property looked unkempt over time as old tires and other things had accumulated, leading to rubbish pouring into the Heinos’ property. This also resulted in a foul odor being generated.
Rikhard, on the other hand, did not react. The show claims that his home once caught fire and local authorities subsequently declared the property unsafe for human habitation. Rikhard, on the other hand, chose to continue living there, even though there was no running water, electricity, or plumbing. The tensions between Rikhard and the neighbors continued for a while until it turned out that Max had reached his breaking point. After noticing that Rikhard’s mailbox had fallen from its post on October 17, 2019, Max retrieved it and put it back in its place on Rikhard’s property. A conflict ensued as a direct result.
That day, Rikhard walked over to Max and Jean, who were angry that their mailbox was stolen, and he found them sitting on their porch. Jean tried to stop the argument between Max and Rikhard, but she was pushed aside by Rikhard, resulting in Jean sustaining injuries to his face and knees. Then Rikhard punched and kicked Max in the groin and legs. Max and Jean’s granddaughter later reported that Rikhard had kicked her grandparents’ grandfather two to four times in the leg. He also slapped my grandma in the face and pushed her against the fence.
A few days later, a blood clot was determined to be the cause of Max’s death, and the coroner determined that the clot was caused by the attack. After questioning by the authorities, Rikhard revealed that he attacked Max. However, it took authorities about five months to escalate the allegations of assault, and it was unclear why it took them so long to do so. According to the content of the episode, Rikhard made threats against other family members of Max in the time leading up to the trial.
How did Richard Talent die?
In April 2021, the defense at Rikhard’s trial argued that Max’s death was not the result of the attack, but rather the previous health issues he had. In May 2021, the jury came to the same conclusion, finding Rikhard not guilty of murder but finding him guilty of two counts of assault based on their shared belief. He received an already served prison sentence and was released shortly thereafter. According to the episode, Rikhard was also charged with aggravated assault for his actions towards another member of Max’s family, although he ended up serving no time for that crime either. Rikhard died in January 2022. He had lived his entire life with brain damage that eventually led to his death at the age of 72.
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