This South Carolina dad has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly slashing his 15-year-old daughter’s throat with a knife.
The incident took place on Clematis Trail street in the city of Sumter, in the US state of South Carolina and officers were called to the home shortly after 10:45 PM on Sunday 5th December.
The Sumter Police Department said in a first statement that Jeremiah Charles Owings, 39, was wanted for allegedly slashing his daughter’s throat with a knife and in a second statement, they said that they had arrested the suspect, who was considered “armed and dangerous”.
The police said that the suspect had called them and told them that he had cut the young girl’s neck. He was at the scene when police arrived.
The teenage girl, who has not been named, was taken to hospital where she “underwent surgery” and is she is “now expected to recover”.
The police said that three other children aged 6 to 15 were found at the home at the time of the incident and they were “placed into emergency protective custody”.
Owings was at first charged with “unlawful conduct toward a child” and he was booked at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center before being released on a USD-5,000 (GBP-3,800) bond on Monday 6th December.
The police said though that the investigation “determined the suspect intended lethal harm when he slashed the girl with a folding blade.”
This led the charge to be upgraded to “attempted murder” and for charges of “possession of a weapon during a violent crime” and “opposing/resisting law enforcement officers serving legal process” to be brought.
The police said that Owings failed to appear at a hearing to keep his children in protective custody, sparking a manhunt.
In a statement issued on Friday 10th December, the police said that Owings was detained on Thursday night. They said: “Sumter Police Department officers obtained information that placed Jeremiah Charles Owings in the Batesburg-Leesville area.
“State Law Enforcement Division agents and deputies with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department helped apprehend the suspect Thursday night.”
They added that he was being held at the Lexington County Detention Center and was scheduled to be transported on Friday to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center.
The police said that the suspect was arrested after he was found in an “abandoned house in Lexington County”.
A bond hearing was scheduled for 9 AM on Saturday morning (11th December), according to the latest information from the police.
