By Mike Weland
After seven years, the Old Addie Road Water War, fought over a well shared by two neighbors, has ended and peace returns to the Good Grief as Daniel Peter Floyd, who did nothing wrong, tried to resolve everything peacefully, and claimed he died two weeks ago and should be in hospice, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.
His victims, David and Kim Eccles, live on the adjoining property and peacefully and equitably shared the well with the prior owner. They even assumed all costs while the property sat empty for three years until Floyd bought it in 2014. Problems started soon after, according to the Eccles. A 2018 civil lawsuit over the well agreement marked the official beginning of the war. But Danny was at least partly correct. He did nothing “technically” wrong until April 5, 2024, when he was caught making three pipe bombs as the civil case wound its way through the courts, every amended agreement rendered reneged upon by Danny.
“Nobody,” he’d tell whoever was within earshot, “is going to take what’s mine. They won’t find the body parts.”
The crime came late, but the “torcher,” as he spelled torture, began early on.
“This whole situation with Danny Floyd has impacted me in severe ways,” Kim read to the court. “I live in constant fear and terror. I’m afraid of noises, dark Ram trucks, red SUVs, the sound of gun shots. Every time I go outside, I feel like I’m being watched so I’m afraid to go outside, even in my own yard . I am so afraid he’s going to shoot me or blow me up as he has threatened to do and made the bombs to follow through with those threats. Since my husband, David, works long hours, I’m home alone a lot and my fear was so great once Danny was released, that we rented an apartment that cost us $10,000 so I could be in a safe place Danny didn’t know about and couldn’t find me. He drove me from my home. I don’t even bother with makeup because I constantly just start crying. My nerves are so frayed. I feel like I have aged 100 years. I have no interests, no desires, I can’t eat or sleep, I can’t work, I am suicidal, I hate waking up in the morning. I am seeing a doctor and working with a counselor once a week to help, but still I struggle.”
Arrested April 5, 2024, Danny was credited with 135 days served, having bailed out April 30 when Judge Justin Julian set bond at $100,000, but also offered a $20,000 bond if Floyd agreed to stay away from his Old Addie Road property. On September 4, Floyd missed a preliminary hearing and a $100,000 warrant was issued. He went back to jail September 19. Also in September the court was notified Floyd had cancer.
On November 12, the civil case came to an end with Judge Lamont Berecz awarding the Eccles $66,807 and ordering the sale of Floyd’s property.
Floyd changed his plea in the criminal case to guilty November 20, 2024, the very day the hospital treating Floyd contacted his former girlfriend, still listed as contact, to report Danny cancer-free. Judge Barbara Buchanan, noting that he was being treated for cancer, released him on his own recognizance pending sentencing, ordering him not to have any contact with the Eccles.
On November 30, Kim’s beloved German shepherd, Ruger, fell ill. He’d been poisoned, and had to be put down. Two days later, Danny showed up after Dave left for work. He commiserated with her over Ruger’s death, told they should be friends.
He confessed, she said, to poisoning her dog. He asked her to help him clean his cabin. She very nearly agreed, but instead went inside her own home and the “nice” Danny she was unfamiliar with, she said, almost instantly reverted to the mean Danny she knew well … racing his snowmobiles or motorcycle up and down their shared property line, staring into the security cameras they’d installed, stirring his dogs to snarl and snap anytime she went to work outside.
After hearing her recount her day, fragile to the point of breaking, Dave called work and arranged an emergency leave of absence.
Floyd missed his sentencing hearing February 21, 2025, and a no-bond warrant was issued. The Eccles began sleeping in shifts, one of them ever awake, watching the feeds come in from the several trail cameras they’d placed around the property to give them advance notice of when Danny would stop by to deliver on his promises. Every critter that moved set off an alarm …unseen, Danny seemed behind every tree.
On March 13, Danny was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Indiana and he was extradited back to Boundary County March 27.
After hearing the Eccles, Floyd was given the opportunity to speak, and his remorse touched the hearts of all present.
“If I wanted to do something, I would have,” he said, but he had a “rough last couple of months with my health. I passed away a couple weeks ago … stage 4 lymphoma.”
He’d been coerced into signing those agreements, takes offense at Dave Eccles calling him a narcissist and Kim Eccles, ask anyone, had emotional problems since before he met her.
“I apologize for how things here have gone,” he said. “My health is a big problem. I want to go back to Indiana. I want to die peacefully.”
Defense attorney Donald Terry recommended a two year sentence and three year’s probation, all suspended to accommodate his client’s ill health.
Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid wasn’t having it, citing Floyd’s lack of remorse and lack of accountability. Pointing out that his actions had real and tangible effects, not only on his victims, but on the community as a whole. Calling him a manipulator and citing all he’d cost the county, she recommended the full penalty allowed by law for the crime he was charged, five years in prison.
“I read that it’s impossible to find peace when someone has hijacked your soul,” David Eccles read. “Kim and I can attest to this simple truth. The defendant hasn’t spilled our physical blood yet, but for nearly a decade, he has spilled emotional blood. And since his initial arrest and subsequent releases, leaving us drained, fearful and on hyper alert status 24/7. I was forced to look on until Kim was broken down mentally, emotionally and eventually physically sick. She no longer wanted to live on our acre in the woods.
“It should be understood now. We forgive him, as our faith guides us to do in situations like this, even to this level; but forgiveness is not the same as justice. This court owes him nothing, no forgiveness, no empathy or sympathy. It is the Court’s duty to punish him with due consideration of what led up to and how far the defendant has gone over the years of terror, and finally via the final decision to constructing active IEDs after commanding a person to pass on to us, ‘it was going to be bloody.’
“It is further the Court’s duty to give due consideration to the community at large. I would like to include another hijacked soul attending by Zoom today, this person he solely holds responsible for foiling his plan, proving, as he put it it to her, she truly was a traitor to him. The only thing having been afforded her by the system at this point is now she must simply wait for her turn to become his next victim in a final act of retribution.
“The defendant has hijacked our souls long enough.”
Judge Susie Jenkins sided with the prosecution, handing down a five year fixed sentence, with credit for the only 135 days the victims of this saga felt safe in almost a decade.
“You chose to pursue a different tactic, you chose to possess bombs,” she said. “There’s a substantial risk if he is in the community. Your actions cannot be condoned or encouraged.”
A motion for reconsideration has been filed, apparently as the wheelchair Floyd now claims to require could render him vulnerable in a prison environment.