A 31-year-old man in Ohio will spend more than a decade behind bars for kidnapping and holding a 60-year-old woman against her will, severely beating and stabbing the victim before sealing her into a small black plastic storage container, an ordeal from which she miraculously survived. Common Pleas Court Judge Hollie Lauren Gallagher ordered Dalontay R. Edmond-Geiger to serve a sentence of 16 to 20 years in a state correctional facility over the horrific crimes, prosecutors confirmed to Law&Crime.
Edmond-Geiger on Oct. 30 formally pleaded guilty to one count each of kidnapping, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and having weapons while under disability, Law&Crime previously reported.
Specifically, Gallagher handed down eight to 12 years on the kidnapping charge and eight years on the felonious assault charge, to be served consecutively, meaning one after the other. The tampering with evidence and firearms charges each resulted in 30-month sentences, to be served concurrently, meaning at the same time as the longer sentences.
Dalontay R. Edmond-Geiger (Cuyahoga County Detention Center) and the home where he kidnapped and stabbed a 60-year-old woman (WOIO screenshot)
A charge of attempted murder was dropped in exchange for Edmond-Geiger pleading guilty to the aforementioned crimes.
“When you think about this case and the harm caused, the words that come to mind, I think, are ‘cruel, barbaric and disturbing’ to say the least,” Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Bringman said during the sentencing hearing, according to a report from Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW. “Rarely do we see the type of torture and treatment and cruelty that [the victim] incurred.”
Bringman also spoke to the callous manner in which Edmond-Geiger treated the victim.
“What is just as chilling when we reviewed that bodycam, moments, seconds before they were able to locate her, the defendant finally yelled out, ‘she’s in the tote,’ nonchalantly,” he said. “He at that time showed no remorse for what he had done, for her condition”
Gallagher echoed Bringman’s sentiment, telling the court that cases embodying such ruthless behavior don’t happen often.
“I’ve never seen an offense like this in my time on the bench,” Gallagher said, noting that she had been a judge for nearly 20 years, per Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC. “I’ve had hundreds of kidnappings, probably hundreds of felonious assaults, never have I seen anything of this magnitude.”
The victim, who had been friends with Edmond-Geiger before the attack, also addressed the court, appearing via Zoom.
“I will never be his victim because he is a victim of himself. I am also not a survivor but I live and through that, I continue to live,” she said, according to Shaker Heights, Ohio, CBS affiliate WOIO. She remains mostly paralyzed from the attack, which she said stemmed from Edmond-Geiger blaming her for legal issues he was dealing with at the time.
According to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime, officers with the Cleveland Police Department on the night of May 2 found a woman inside a residence in the 3100 block of West 97th Street who was being held against her will by Edmond-Geiger.
Court records state that Edmond-Geiger’s home address is the West 97th Street residence.
“Edmond-Geiger admitted to physically assaulting [the] victim, ziptying [sic] her hands to a chair, and moving her body from room to room to deceive police,” the affidavit states. “Geiger then forcefully stuffs [the] victim’s body into a 3 ft x 3 ft plastic container and traps her motionless body inside and seals the lid, restricting air to victim before police finds victim.”
Police said the victim, whose identity has not been disclosed, was unconscious and required the use of a ventilator to assist with breathing. She also suffered “multiple fractures to the rear of her head,” the document states.
The events leading police to the disturbing discovery began earlier in the day on May 2, at around 3:30 p.m., when authorities received a call from a concerned woman at a corner store, reporting that another woman was tied up in the basement of a nearby home.
Responding to the call, officers encountered Edmond-Geiger at the residence. After a 30-minute delay, Edmond-Geiger allowed the officers to search his basement, where they found only an air mattress but no victim.
It was during this initial visit that Edmond-Geiger was moving the victim from room to room to prevent police from finding her.
Later that evening, police spoke with a woman familiar with the area who claimed she knew that Edmond-Geiger had assaulted a woman and was holding her in the basement of his residence. She told police that Edmond-Geiger even showed her photos of the alleged assault and claimed the victim was a “snitch,” providing investigators with additional evidence of potential criminal activity.
In the early hours of May 3, officers returned to the residence to speak with Edmond-Geiger again.
While inside the living room, an officer reportedly heard moaning sounds from an unknown location.
However, each time the moaning occurred, Edmond-Geiger allegedly amplified the volume of the radio playing on his phone. Suspicions grew, prompting the officer to question Edmond-Geiger further.
Eventually, police say Edmond-Geiger confessed that a woman was beneath the porch, hidden in a tiny storage container. Police said they found her “stuffed and folded into a small black tote.”
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