A West Fork parolee is jailed for attempted murder after police say he and his wife got into an argument over prescription medication.
Jason Kelley, 27, is being held at the Washington County jail on charges of attempted murder, terroristic threatening, domestic battery, and false imprisonment.
A deputy was dispatched to Kelley’s home on Mineral Springs Road for a welfare check around 9 p.m. Tuesday. The deputy says a woman answered the door of the mobile home. She was crying very hard and had noticeable red marks around her neck and throat, the report states.
The 29-year-old woman claimed her husband, Kelley, threatened, choked, hit her and held her in the home against her will.
The wife told the deputy that just before dinner she noticed her husband was acting strange. She believed he was stealing her prescription medication and confronted him about it, according to the report. When Kelley admitted to taking them, the woman told deputies she tossed the pills in the toilet.
Kelley grabbed some of the pills from the toilet and spit in the woman’s face, deputies say. The wife then pushed him away and a fight ensued, according to the officer’s report.
The woman told deputies she and her husband argued for the next hour and he threatened to set fire to her car or punch a hole in the gas tank so she could not leave. She finally saw an opportunity to leave, but Kelley chased her out the front door and slammed her onto the wooden front porch, according to the report.
The wife told deputies he choked her until her ears were popping, her vision was blurry and she couldn’t breathe. She claims he threatened to kill her, but stopped.
According to the sheriff’s office, shortly after a man called the victim about an ad on Craigslist for puppies and through his questioning, she was able to get him to call for help.
Kelley was placed under arrest. Central EMS evaluated treated the victim on the scene.
Deputies say Kelley told them he “would never go back to prison” and also mentioned past instances where he fled to avoid prosecution. Kelley was placed on suicide watch in the jail.
He’s expected to appear in Washington County Circuit Court on April 20.
