An 82-year-old resident of The Villages has been arrested following the brutal beatdown of a female companion in a driveway in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
Jeanne Dale Montross was taken into custody Thursday on a warrant charging her with battery on a person 65 or older. The exact location of the attack was redacted from the arrest report, but Sumter County property records indicate Montross co-owns a home with a woman in the Village of Hacienda. The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office report described the women as being in a “domestic” relationship.
The arrest stems from a May 10 incident that prompted a frantic 911 call from a horrified neighbor. According to the report, the neighbor witnessed Montross repeatedly kicking and striking downward in the driveway during the middle of the afternoon. The witness initially thought Montross was striking at nothing until two legs suddenly raised in the air from the pavement. The neighbor told dispatchers the victim had been yelling and screaming for help for five to 10 minutes while enduring the attack.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they found the victim lying on the driveway in front of a parked SUV. The woman, who had multiple open and superficial wounds on her arms, told deputies she had been assaulted and implied Montross was “crazy,” though she could not remember how she ended up on the ground.
Montross denied any knowledge of an altercation or how the woman ended up on the pavement. She had no visible injuries, though deputies noted an unexplained wet spot on her shirt. The arrest report noted that Montross is known to become “violently impatient” when consuming alcohol and may suffer from undiagnosed dementia.
This is not Montross’s first run-in with the law. In 2021, she was arrested in Falmouth, Mass., on charges that included assault with a dangerous weapon.
Following her arrest on Thursday, Montross was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center. She was being held without bond due to the domestic nature of the incident.