Visalia Lodge Stabbing Leads to Arrest; Separate Incident Sees Exeter Man Charged with Murder
VISALIA, CA — On the evening of March 25, 2025, Visalia Police Department officers were dispatched to the Sequoia Lodge on Mooney Boulevard following a report of a stabbing incident. Upon arrival at approximately 7:31 p.m., they discovered a woman with a non-life-threatening leg injury, accidentally sustained during an altercation between two men on the lodge’s second floor.
The injured woman directed officers to a room where one of the involved men was believed to be located. After failing to receive a response, officers forcibly entered the room to find a man with a stab wound, who was then promptly transported to Kaweah Health for medical treatment.
Further investigation led officers to Nathan Hiser, 34, suspected of being the second participant in the altercation. Found in another room under a bed with a bloody mask nearby, Hiser was arrested without incident. The evidence on the scene linked him directly to the altercation. Hiser faces multiple charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, resisting or obstructing an officer, possession of a controlled substance, and violation of parole, as he was on parole at the time.
In a separate but related report, on May 30, 2022, Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to a report of gunshots at a residence in Exeter. Upon arrival, deputies discovered 65-year-old Richard Crowder deceased from gunshot wounds. The investigation eventually led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for 24-year-old Nicholas Hayes of Exeter. Hayes was apprehended by TCSO detectives on March 21, 2025, at a residence in Goshen and was booked at the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Pre-Trial Facility for murder.
