Jersey City man found bound in home

JERSEY CITY Investigators were back at the house on Lembeck Street Wednesday, trying to figure out exactly what happened. The homeowner, identified as 58-year-old John Diffley, was found tied up inside, apparently stuck for at least three days.

The neighbor who found him and called police refused to talk, but others describe watching as emergency crews arrived on the scene.

"When they brought him out in a chair, they put him on a stretcher," neighbor Jasmin Mangar said. "He was all wrapped up so we don't know if he had any clothes on or not."

Mangar lives next door. She says her son knocked on the victim's door early Tuesday to remind him to move his car for the street sweeper, but got no reply. When the car was later ticketed, that other neighbor used his extra key and entered the home.

"I just can't say what goes through my mind, because I was just thinking that maybe he could have died in there."

So far, police say it appears nothing was taken, so they don't know whether this started out as a robbery or something else, though they are following several leads.

As emergency service officers secured the property late Wednesday afternoon, neighbors were still trying to make sense of it all.

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WEB PRODUCED BY: Bill King

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