After her boyfriend forced her to get into his gold minivan, a Fremont County, Wyoming, woman jumped out of the moving vehicle and rolled into a ditch, before being forced back into the vehicle and having to jump from it a second time, court documents allege.
Jeffery Alan King, 70, was charged Monday with one count of felonious restraint (punishable by up to five years in prison), another of reckless endangering (up to one year in jail) and a third of domestic battery (up to six months in jail).
An evidentiary affidavit by Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Tyler opens with Tyler patrolling the Riverton area 37 minutes after noon on Oct. 17. The dispatch center said a James Barquin, 31, had reported to law enforcement that Sarah Evans, 42, had jumped out of a gold-colored minivan near Bee Road.
Tyler drove toward the Evans' reported location and found her walking south on Highway 789 near Riverton; with the left side of her face bruised and swollen, her entire left ear swollen and heavily bruised, fresh blood on her face and shirt collar, and her legs and abdomen bruised, says the affidavit.
The said her body bore many more bruises under her clothes, the document adds.
Knife Standoff
According to Evans, the trouble started when she encountered a 59-year-old man while she was walking on Riverton’s bike path, and they started walking together.
King pulled up in his minivan and confronted the younger male, and the two men pulled knives on each other. The younger man walked away.
King turned his attention to Evans and forced her into his vehicle, she told the deputy at the time. Evans and King had been dating on-and-off for six years, she noted.
That younger man told Tyler during his own interview the following day that King pulled his knife first; and that he chose to walk away and let King force Evans into the vehicle because he believed it would be best if he didn’t get involved, says the affidavit.
As he left, the younger man heard Evans say “no” multiple times while King demanded she get into the vehicle, he told the deputy, according to the document.
Ditch Roll
King drove away with Evans in the passenger seat. He punched her face and head, then picked up a crescent wrench and other tools she couldn’t identify and started hitting her in the head and face, says the document.
Evans “left” the moving vehicle near Bee Road and rolled into a ditch, she recalled. King got out of the vehicle and beat her some more, she said, then he forced her back into his minivan.
Evans fled the moving vehicle a second time, the affidavit relates from her interview.
Barquin witnessed all this and picked the woman up in his own vehicle, after which King left the area, the document says.
Evans reportedly told the deputy that King has been abusive with her in the past and stabbed her above the knee one time.
She was taken to Riverton’s SageWest Health Care.
Back To The Present
Fremont County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Hancock filed the charges against King Monday – about five months after the alleged offense.
Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun declined to comment on reasons for the time lapse. He confirmed, however, that King is in custody and not on the run.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
