Ava, MO. – An Ava man has been arrested after being accused of kidnapping and violently attacking a woman.
Jeremiah Evans, age 40 of Ava, is charged with 1st degree kidnapping, four counts of 1st-degree domestic assault, two counts of 2nd-degree domestic assault, and three counts of armed criminal action.
A female victim reported to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on October 10, 2023, that her then-husband Evans had assaulted her on February 4, 2023 and had pictures to prove her story.
The woman told authorities Evans and the woman were traveling on Highway N when he stopped the vehicle he had been operating while being intoxicated and began choking her. He then forced her out of the vehicle and back into it before taking her to the Douglas County Livestock Stockyard.
She said that at the stockyard, he began to choke her again, saying “you’re going to die tonight” before producing a knife and holding it to her neck. He then forced her to hold the knife and told her he was going to force her to cut her own wrists and “tell everyone that you killed yourself.”
She stated he then took her to their residence, beat her, choked her, and threatened her with a handgun.
According to law enforcement, the images displayed a large amount of bruising on the woman’s chest neck and arms. The victim has obtained a full order of protection against the suspect.
Jeremiah Evans has been arrested for violent offenses in 2022 for shooting a firearm at a motor vehicle/person/building and earlier in 2023 in Oklahoma for domestic assault and battery by strangulation.
Evans is being held on a $50,000 cash bond.
