JOPLIN, Mo. —
A 41-year-old man was in custody Saturday after allegedly assaulting his ex-wife with a baseball bat, binding her hands and feet with duct tape, and holding her captive overnight in her apartment in Loma Linda.
Charges of first-degree assault, felonious restraint and armed criminal action were filed on Anthony L. Bruenn, 41, in connection with alleged abuse of his ex-wife that is believed to have begun about 8:30 p.m. Thursday when she returned home.
“He had broken into the house and was waiting for her in the garage,” Copeland said. “He took a metal baseball bat and struck her in the head with it.”
The sheriff said Bruenn then banged her head on the floor of the garage before taking her into her apartment, where he bound her hands and feet with duct tape. He said Bruenn refused to let her go until a little after noon on Friday.
“By then, she convinced him she needed medical treatment,” the sheriff said. “He took her to Freeman (Hospital West), dropped her off and took off.”
The hospital notified the Newton County Sheriff’s Department of the assault, and Bruenn was taken into custody Friday night at his home near Carthage.
Copeland was uncertain if the woman lost consciousness for any length of time when she was struck with the bat or when her head struck the floor. He said she suffered injuries to the head and her body, but they did not prove to be life-threatening.
Bruenn remained in custody Saturday at the Newton County Jail on a cash-only bond of $100,000. The woman’s name was being withheld pending the formal filing of a probable-cause affidavit with the charges in Newton County Circuit Court on Monday.
Crime & Courts
Sheriff: Ex-husband ambushed woman in Loma Linda
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