Inset: Travis Scott Warren (Sweetwater County Detention Center). Background: The Sweetwater County Justice Center in Rock Springs, Wyo. (Google Maps).
A Wyoming man is behind bars after threatening to saw off his wife”s head during an argument that turned increasingly violent and led to his son’s wrist being broken, Cowboy State police say.
Travis Scott Warren, 41, stands accused of four counts of domestic battery, three counts of aggravated assault, and one count of child abuse, according to Sweetwater Circuit Court records.
The underlying incident occurred on March 7, when the Green River Police Department was called to the defendant’s home.
When police arrived at the residence, Warren told officers he was “hurt” because his wife “kicked him in the head multiple times,” according to court records obtained by Cowboy State Daily.
So, he was taken to a nearby hospital.
Upon arrival, however, law enforcement quickly learned that Warren’s own 12-year-old son was already there and was being treated for a broken wrist, according to an affidavit of probable cause prepared by the Wyoming Department of Family Services.
Officers interviewed the child and heard about a residence filled with violence, according to the charging document. The boy allegedly said there had recently been “a lot of fighting between his parents” and that he saw his father hit his mother with a bottle of olive oil.
On the night of the wrist injury, the boy described a harrowing scene in which his parents’ arguing in the kitchen led to his father grabbing a knife off the counter and stalking toward his mother, police said. The child went on to say he stepped in to protect his mother by knocking the knife out of his father’s hand and then grabbing him from behind.
“There was a struggle and Travis pulled their son off of him, and their son felt something pop in his wrist,” the affidavit reads.
The child’s account was echoed by his mother, police said. She allegedly told investigators her son intervened to try to protect her. The woman elaborated to say the argument with Warren got scary when he threatened to kill her, according to the charging document. Such threats, the woman allegedly said, were made multiple times.
The woman also clarified that the defendant had grabbed a steak knife — but said she only believed he was trying to intimidate her.
As the increasingly violent argument continued, Warren tried to hit her with an olive oil bottle, the woman said. Detectives took note of apparent oil stains on her sweatshirt, according to the affidavit.
Then, the incident moved into the bathroom, where Warren punched her in the head, she allegedly said. The woman also recalled being hit with a wire toilet paper dispenser because the pain from the impact of that particular object stung, investigators claim.
At one point, the man issued an even more gruesome and graphic threat, police said. Warren threatened to “saw her head off” with a knife in the bathtub, according to the charging document.
The woman added that her husband tried to “spear” her with a red broom before she was finally able to get away — though the charging document is unclear as to how the confrontation drew to a close.
Warren was arrested the next day and initially booked on a $75,000 cash or surety bond. He is currently detained on a lowered bond of $20,000 in the Sweetwater County Detention Center.
