She accused him of cheating, Florida cops say. A barrel of tar was right outside
An argument at a home on Florida’s Gulf Coast escalated into horrific violence, according to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office.
An arrest affidavit says that on July 20, deputies responded to a “domestic disturbance” matter in Rosewood, about an hour west of Ocala, around 6 p.m.
Deputies say a witness told them that a woman was fighting with her boyfriend, Marshall Dimick, 55, and he “dunked her head into a vat of a tar like substance.”
The woman was taken to the hospital for treatment of chemical burns to her face and arms.
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Deputies then went to the hospital and made contact with the victim, whose arms, hands, parts of her ears, neck and nose were covered in “a black substance.” The complaint added that her room “smelled heavily of petroleum based products, similar to diesel.”
The woman, who appeared to be “in severe pain and complained of her eyes burning,” said that she and the suspect had been in a relationship for about six months. Just recently, she suspected him of cheating after searching his phone, found he was meeting up with a local woman “for the purpose of sexual intercourse.”
When she confronted him about it, the altercation began, with the two ending outside near the vat of a tar used to treat clam and oyster bags, according to a news release.
As the argument became more and more physical, Dimick “suddenly lost control,” with him grabbing her and forcing her face and arms into the noxious, “extremely sticky” mixture for “several seconds,” according to the arrest affidavit.
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Dimick, a convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing a firearm, also “pointed a shotgun at her and choked her to near unconsciousness,” the sheriff’s office said.
An investigation discovered that Dimick removed several firearms from the home before deputies arrived. The weapons were seized from a neighboring property.
The Rosewood man was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a firearm and four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
He is being held at the Levy County Detention Center on $550,000 bail.
