"I just kind of panicked and just kind of went crazy after that," Allan Kieta told The Indianapolis Star. "I've wrestled all my life. My dad's a Marine; he taught me some stuff. You're thinking in your head all this survival stuff."
Kieta, who is legally blind, had taken a day off work Monday. He realized something was wrong when he heard his "little poodle-like dog" barking.
He told the newspaper he surprised the man in the laundry room and pummeled and kicked him until he was quiet. He dragged him into the kitchen by the belt, found a kitchen knife and then dialed 911 with his left hand, which took him about 20 tries.
Police arrested Alvaro Castro, 25, who was taken to a detention unit in a hospital. Castro denied burglarizing the house, police said, telling officers that he had come to see his ex-girlfriend, Kieta's daughter, and that he was looking for a lost cat.