Inset: Thomas A. Welch (Moultrie County Jail). Background: Area in Kirksville, Illinois, where Welch”s girlfriend allegedly jumped out of a vehicle to escape him (WCIA).
An Illinois man is facing several charges after his girlfriend suffered a cut on her forehead so deep that it exposed her skull while she was trying to get away from him.
Records show Thomas A. Welch, 31, stands accused of attempted murder, aggravated domestic battery and kidnapping. Local CBS affiliate WCIA obtained an arrest affidavit which said deputies with the Moultrie County Sheriff’s Office responded around 1 a.m. Dec. 31 after a woman covered in blood ran to a home in Kirksville. The woman said she jumped out of a moving car to get away from Welch, her boyfriend.
She later told deputies that roughly an hour earlier, she was riding in a car in the Mattoon area with Welch and 33-year-old Cody Kimery when she and her boyfriend began to argue. Welch reportedly threatened to kill her and at one point stopped the car and struck her in the head with an object, causing her to bleed.
The victim screamed to be let out of the vehicle but Welch, who was driving, and Kimery refused to let her out and stopped her from exiting, the affidavit reportedly stated.
After about an hour of driving, the victim reportedly jumped from the car as it traveled about 20 mph. She ran to a neighbor’s house.
“I see this girl walking out of the mist, coming out and walking in the mist,” neighbor Jeremiah Seaman told WCIA. “And she was covered head to toe in blood.”
Seaman called 911 and cops arrived to help the victim. She was taken to the hospital where she received staples to close the wound on her head, the affidavit reportedly said.
Deputies later tracked down Welch and his vehicle, which had a dashcam inside. It allegedly captured Welch and the other man forcing the woman to stay in the vehicle as she repeatedly begged to get out.
“I’m going to have to kill her bro,” Welch allegedly said to Kimery.
Kimery faces a charge of unlawful restraint.
Cops arrested Welch last week. He remains at the Moultrie County Jail without bond.
