HANCOCK COUNTY — A man who threatened in December to kill a woman with an ax has officially been charged by the Hancock County prosecutor’s office.
Jay G. Smith, 56, Maxwell, was arrested earlier this week and faces a Level 5 felony count of intimidation with a deadly weapon. He’s also been charged with a Class A misdemeanor of domestic battery after he allegedly hit the woman several times in the back with a boot.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an officer from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched Dec. 2 to a home in the 100 block of South Center Street in Maxwell after a caller said a woman was hiding from a man who was trying to attack her with an ax.
The caller told officials the woman was locked inside a car needing help, the affidavit said. The caller also identified Smith as the man trying to attack the woman.
Officers from the Fortville Police Department arrived first on the scene, the affidavit said. They detained Smith without incident. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they spoke to the victim, who was crying and visibly shaking, the affidavit said.
The woman told police the issue had started the night before when Smith just “went off the deep end,” for no reason, screaming and telling everyone to get out of the home, the woman said in the affidavit.
The woman said while others there left, she went to bed. But when she woke up the morning of Dec. 2, the argument continued and she began to pack her bags to leave, the affidavit said.
She had moved most of her belongings outside, the woman said in the affidavit, but then the argument continued in the garage area, where Smith picked up a boot and began hitting her in the back with it.
Smith then allegedly dropped the boot and picked up an ax in the garage and told the woman he would kill her. The woman was forced to lock herself inside a vehicle, where she called a family member for help, the affidavit said.
Smith denied hitting or threatening the woman and told officers they had only argued, the affidavit said. The woman told police she was afraid Smith will kill her.
Smith was arrested and charged Monday, Jan. 13. He had an initial hearing in Hancock County Superior Court 1 on Tuesday, Jan. 14, in front of court commissioner Cody Coombs, who set a $2,000 cash bond. Smith has a pretrial conference set for Feb. 25.
As of Friday afternoon, Smith was still listed as an inmate in the Hancock County Jail.
