Man charged with attempted murder, kidnapping after woman found 'covered in blood'

(WAND) - A man is facing multiple charges including attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping after police say he beat a woman so badly her skull was showing.

Thomas Welch is charged with attempted murder, aggravated domestic battery, and aggravated kidnapping out of Moultrie County.

The incident that started just before midnight on Dec. 30 spanned multiple towns and counties.

At 12:55 a.m. on Dec. 31, a Moultrie County Sheriff's deputy was called to the 200 block of Cherry St. in Kirksville. The caller said a woman had walked up to their home covered in blood after jumping out of a moving vehicle.

The woman had a severe cut to the top of her forehead. She told deputies she was driving around with her boyfriend, Thomas Welch, and his friend and that she jumped from the vehicle because she did not feel safe.

The woman said she did not know where she was when she jumped from the vehicle but that she was from the Mattoon/Charleston area.

The homeowner told deputies the woman approached him, walking from County Road 750E across his yard.

The woman was taken by ambulance to Sarah Bush Lincoln.

Moultrie County deputies spoke with Mattoon Police who said the woman's boyfriend, Thomas Welch, was known to drive a dark colored truck, similar to what the woman described.

Deputies said they confirmed Welch was driving, the woman was a passenger, and a friend of Welch's was the other passenger.

Mattoon Police found and impounded the vehicle. A dash camera was found inside of it.

Police were able to pull video and audio from the camera. They said it showed the woman try and get out of the truck and be pulled back inside. While the vehicle left Arthur and continued into Moultrie County, the woman could be heard screaming and asking over and over again to be let out. The vehicle continued to drive while they argued and screamed.

Court documents show Welch repeatedly made comments about physically harming the woman, including threatening to break her jaw, and threatening repeatedly to kill her.

Police said Welch grabbed her and kept her from getting out of the vehicle and at one point walked around to the passenger side and forced her back in.

At the intersection of Luke St. and Oak St., police found the woman's scarf, a vape, and a Gatorade bottle on the ground. The scarf had blood and a clump of the victim's hair on it.

Police said Welch went south on Oak St., turned west onto Palmer St., and then went westbound onto Illinois 133. The woman continued to scream to be let out and that she wanted to go home. Instead, police said Welch drove in the opposite direction of her home in Mattoon.

When they got to Kirksville, the woman jumped from the vehicle and walked to the house on Cherry St. for help.

At the hospital, the woman got staples in her head, had a cut deep enough to see her skull, and police said she will most likely have permanent scarring.

The woman also had bruising to her neck consistent with being choked and a swollen cheek.

Welch was formally charged Tuesday.

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