Marion County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Summerfield man earlier this week after a woman locked in a bedroom sent out text messages asking for help.
When deputies arrived at a house at 14454 SE 90th Ave. in Summerfield this past Wednesday, they spoke with a woman through a bedroom window who said she was locked inside the room. The woman also told deputies that 64-year-old Edward Clark Babcock allegedly had strangled her the night before to the point where she couldn’t breathe, a sheriff’s office report states.
A sheriff’s sergeant went through the text messages the woman sent to a man who called deputies for help. They describe being locked in a bedroom and being battered by Babcock, the report says.
The sergeant confirmed the locked bedroom door and had to forcibly open it so the woman could get out. The sergeant also reported that the door had deadbolt locks on both sides that needed a key for it to be unlocked, the report says, adding that he didn’t observe any injuries to the victim.
Babcock told deputies that he had never physically battered the woman and “she’s able to leave at her own will.” He claimed that the woman moved her belongings into another room where he sleeps and that he rents a third bedroom out to a roommate. And he said that all of the bedrooms have deadbolt locks on both sides of the doors and “everyone has a key to the locks.”
Babcock also told the deputies that the woman locked herself in her bedroom and “must have misplaced the key.” He again stated that he would never hold her against her will and “she is allowed to leave anytime she wants.” And he said the deadbolt locks are on the bedroom doors so they can be locked by whomever is renting the room if they decide to do so when leaving the residence.
Babcock was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with domestic battery by strangulation and kidnapping/false imprisonment (adult domestic). He was being held on $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in a Marion County courtroom on Feb. 19 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.
