Thousands and thousands of miles away from his quiet country home in Charlotte, 24-year-old student Johnathan Hindenach is being detained in an Italian jail, where police want to know about his possible involvement in the murder of 62-year-old Riccardo Nistri of Florence.

"That floors me. I can't believe that at all. That's crazy," says next-door neighbor Andy Potter.

Potter and his father-in-law Dave Hoyt say they've known the student for about eight years. They call him polite, curteous; involved in a murder? No way.

"He's a very good guy. That's crazy to me," Potter says.

"I'm shocked. I'm just shocked. This is Charlotte. I never could see that coming," Hoyt says.

Across the street neighbor Dennis Moore is just as surprised to hear the news about his young neighbor.

"I've known the kid over all these years," Moore says. "Nice kid. Polite kid."

Reports out of Italy say the mid-Michigan man was found just yards away from the victim, covered in blood. And just the day before, Hindenach was said to have been screaming that people were trying to kill him.

We went to his parents' house to find out what's going on with their son studying abroad, but a man at the door gave a "No comment" and asked us to leave.

"I hardly believe it's happening," Hoyt says.

A murder so far away, that is shaking this small community.