Couple Accused of Dragging Neighbor to Balcony — and Throwing Him Over the Railing to His Death By Christine Pelisek

A Kentucky couple is charged with murder on accusations they threw a man off a second-story balcony.

Shawn Durbin, 39, and Nancy Ann Durbin, 36, are charged with murder in connection with the death of 62-year-old Bobby Pennington.

Initially, the couple was arrested on first-degree assault, but the charges were upgraded to murder after Pennington died from his injuries.

Officers responded to an apartment complex on East Memorial Drive in Elizabethtown on Nov. 13 on a report of an adult male in cardiac arrest.

“While our officers were responding, they were updated that the individual in question had been thrown from a second-story balcony,” Elizabethtown Police Public Information Officer Chris Denham tells PEOPLE.

Pennington was transported to Baptist Health and later transported to a university hospital, where he died four days later on Nov. 17.

Pennington and the couple were residents of the apartment complex where the incident occurred.

According to Denham, there was a “dispute” before Pennington was tossed off the communal balcony.

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“I have no idea what the argument was about. It’s despicable, frankly. There was no indication that Mr. Pennington had caused these two any problems. I don’t know what their motive was,” he says.

According to Nancy Durbin’s police citation obtained by PEOPLE, a witness saw the two “physically drag the victim from in front of [an apartment] which belonged to the Durbins, and then throw him over the second-story balcony handrail.”

“The fall was approximately 11’6” on a concrete pad below,” per the citation.

Shawn Durbin is also charged with two counts of third-degree assault and one count of resisting arrest for attempting to kick out a patrol car window, spitting on a police officer and fighting with officers.

A grand jury indicted the Durbins on Nov. 20.

Both are scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 9.

They are currently being held at the Hardin County Detention Center.