Neighbors identified the man as George Schrum who lived alone.
"I don't understand why anybody would do that to him. There's really no reason he wouldn't have provocked anything like that," said Barry Gather.
By one estimate Schrum had lived in the house for at least 50 years.
Police think the assailant broke through a basement door which was latched but had no lock. Detectives dusted for fingerprints and were able to lift a shoe print as for anything missing:
"Right now the one thing that we can determine was taken was his vehicle," said Sgt. James Reardon.
The victim owned a 1994 Escort. The vehicle was found abandoned only about a block south of the victim's home. Curiously the keys were found by a worker at a construction site a block to the north of the victim's home.
There was a report of some sort of loud altercation near the crime scene at about 9:30 Sunday night.
"We did have a report of a that there may have been an argument on the street at this time here at this time now we can't confirm whether or not that argument is related to the home invasion."
