Police: Union City man assaulted girlfriend, held her and her daughter captive
A man is in custody for allegedly holding a woman and her young daughter captive inside a Darke County home.
News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis spoke with Mark Ater, Union City Police Chief, and he said his department had responded to the 300 block of North Walnut Street in the past but never escalated to something like this.
Ted Boze of Union City described the types of things he’s seen and heard from his neighbors.
“Screaming, arguing, pushing, fighting, shoving,” he said. “This has been going on for over a year, arguing and fighting.”
24-year-old Preston Gilbert was arrested by police on November 12 after a domestic violence incident involving a 14-year-old who he lived with.
Ater said Gilbert was released on his own recognizance that afternoon. But when he returned to the house, Gilbert held his girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter against their will inside the home for nearly a week.
“He actually took his girlfriend’s phone, any way that she could communicate,” said Ater. “Took her keys to her vehicle and then screwed all the windows that go to the outside of the house, screwed them all shut.”
Lewis reports the girlfriend was not able to get help until Friday, November 18, when a Darke County Department of Job and Family Services employee visited the house to check on the children who lived in the home.
“When she got there, she knocked on the door and a female adult came running out the door screaming for help,” Chief Ater said. “She brought her 10-year-old daughter out screaming for help stating that the male in the house was going to kill her.”
The woman ending having injuries, according to Ater.
“She was found to have injuries from head to toe, lacerations, bruising,” he said. “There were cut marks on her neck. He also used a box cutter, utility knife style knife to cut her neck and her hair and her ear.”
Lewis spoke with neighbors Sunday and they were shocked to hear what took place near them.
“Especially in Union City, though? And I live right here,” said Dayvon Wilson.
Gilbert fled the scene when his girlfriend got help but was arrested Saturday, November 19, in Union City, Indiana, Ater said.
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Union City Police have never had an incident like this take place, according to Chief Ater.
“We frequently responded to domestic violence incidents,” he said. “But we never responded to an incident where someone was held in a house and wasn’t able to get out like this incident.”
Lewis says the Ohio-Indiana border is just blocks away from where this all happened. Gilbert was arrested in Indiana and now awaits extradition back to Ohio.
The 10-year old was not hurt, Ater said.
Gilbert is facing one charge of felonious assault, according to court records.
