Left inset: Christopher Collins. Right inset: Jesserae Beck (Lincoln Police Department). Background: Law enforcement outside a Nebraska property where Christopher Collins allegedly took Jesserae Beck after attacking her (KOLN).
A Nebraska woman has come forward and shared her story about being allegedly beaten, strangled, and kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, who also tried to blow his house up with them both inside, she says.
“It was like he snapped into a completely different realm,” Jesserae Beck, 42, told local TV station KOLN over the weekend about her ex-partner Christopher Collins, 36, who is facing multiple charges for the September onslaught.
“I don”t want you to look at your face,” Collins allegedly told Beck after pummeling and kidnapping her, noting how her injuries were “really bad this time” compared to prior attacks that the mother of three says she suffered at his hands.
“I couldn’t fathom what was going through his head, nor did I want to ask,” Beck recalled. “I just knew that I needed to buy as much time as I could so that nothing bad happened to me.”
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Beck says the former couple had domestic issues and Collins allegedly beat her on several occasions prior to the attack that led to his charges, which include kidnapping, terroristic threats and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
Collins was reportedly out on bond for an August incident that led to charges of assault by strangulation. A protection order that was filed against him was reportedly lifted on Sept. 24 at the request of Beck, who allegedly went to take Collins a home cooked meal that night.
Collins is accused of attacking her while she was at his residence.
After being knocked unconscious, she told KOLN that she woke up on Sept. 25 in a rental property that Collins owns with no memory of what happened. “He actually thought I was dead, essentially, and he didn’t know what to do,” Beck remembered. “I’m waking up in a completely different house, but he wasn’t expecting me to wake up, I think was the thing.”
The former couple allegedly sat together in bed for hours, with Collins asking her to slit his throat at one point, to which she refused.
“I said, ‘I will not watch somebody I love bleed out by the hands of myself,” Beck recounted. “And he said, ‘Well, then I’ll kill you and then I’ll kill myself.'”
Some time passed and Collins allegedly told Beck that he was thankful that she didn’t kill him, and that he would turn himself in the following day. Beck had injuries to her head, face, ribs and back that she says were caused by Collins attacking her.
“How did the person that I love so much bring us both here?” Beck said. “Not only is he ruining my life, but he’s ruining his own.”
Later that day on Sept. 25, authorities and SWAT busted into the property and found Beck inside with Collins. She told KOLN that Collins was using a natural gas line to try and blow up their home. He also allegedly tried strangling her as law enforcement attempted to make their way inside.
“He had zero intention of both of us making it out,” Beck alleged. “IÂ remember Chris getting up after me and grabbing a glass bottle of Tito’s, and he slammed it on my head. Then, he got on top of me, trying to strangle me.”
Describing the gas-filled home, Beck said, “I don’t know how much longer it would have lasted before we blew up. But he would have blown up, not just us, but he would have blown up a couple more houses on top of us. So, not only would my life have been gone, but somebody else’s innocent lives would have been gone as well.”
SWAT members allegedly took Collins down as he was strangling Beck and arrested him, she says. Beck was taken to a local hospital with numerous injuries including left rib fractures, a brain bleed and fractured nose. Police allegedly found blood splattered around the home and chunks of human hair.
“It could be worse, you know. I could be dead,” she told KOLN. “I’m thankful every day I’m not.”
Collins reportedly faces life in prison, if convicted. He is due in court on Nov. 6.
