Man jailed in New Madrid on domestic assault charge

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of July 13, officers responded to an apartment on Blades Drive where a 911 caller reported a woman was being choked by her boyfriend.

When officers arrived, a woman was walking through the parking lot with two small children and she had obvious wounds to her face. She said that she and her boyfriend got in an argument and he started punching her. She stated he then got her on the ground and started choking her.

The victim had swelling on her face and red marks on her neck where she had been choked.

Her boyfriend walked to the parking lot a short time later and spoke with an officer about the incident. He said he and his girlfriend were arguing and that he did hit her, but only after she hit him first. The man had scratches on his neck and arms, but they appeared to be defensive in nature.

Because it appeared that the man was the primary physical aggressor, he was placed under arrest and later charged with domestic assault.

On the afternoon of July 14, an officer took a report about a break-in on St. Christopher. The resident said she had been out of town for a few days and when she came home, she found that someone had broken in and destroyed everything in the apartment.

Nothing was taken, but there was property damage in excess of $10,000.

Blood was later located at the scene where the suspect had been cut during the break-in and a possible suspect was identified.

The investigation is ongoing and will move forward after the crime lab compares DNA from the blood found at the scene to the DNA of the suspect.