Chasity Dean made calls to a domestic violence shelter in Columbus over the course of months, telling an employee she needed to get away from her husband.
After getting a protection order from him and moving to a different apartment, she said she finally felt ready to move on and raise her child without him.
On Friday, she was stabbed to death outside her apartment. Her husband was charged with her murder and had his preliminary hearing in recorder’s court Wednesday morning.
Kyle Dean, 20, plead not guilty to five felony charges in court in the murder of Dean, 20. The charges are for murder, aggravated assault, possession of a gun or knife during the commission of a felony, attempted kidnapping and feticide, or causing the death of an unborn child through injury to its mother.
Columbus Police Corporal Kevin Baldwin testified that police were dispatched to Elizabeth Canty Homes Friday afternoon after residents reported seeing a woman stabbed outside an apartment.
Police arrived on scene and found Chasity with a stab wound to the right chest, according to Baldwin. She was transported to a nearby hospital and found to be approximately 13 weeks pregnant. Chasity and her unborn child died later that day at the hospital.
Baldwin said Kyle Dean was seen on video assaulting Chasity in attempts to “force her off of the porch to make her come with him.” He testified Kyle got her into a choke hold and knocked her to the ground, where he stabbed her.
Baldwin said police captured footage of Kyle leaving the scene in his vehicle and used his license plate information to track him to Lee County, where he was arrested Sunday.
Judge David Ranieri found probable cause to continue the case and bound it to Superior Court. Kyle will be held without bond.
History of abuse
Baldwin said Chasity’s death was preceded by a heated argument in which Kyle was the “primary aggressor.” He stated that Kyle “fully confessed” to Chasity’s murder in an interview with police, saying that he was “angry because she wouldn’t go outside with him.”
Baldwin said Kyle had a “history of violence” and Chasity was staying next door, rather than with Kyle, because she “was afraid” of him.
Crystal Sund, a legal advocate from Columbus domestic violence shelter Hope Harbour, testified in court that she helped Chasity get into the shelter after her second call.
Sund said she also helped Chasity get a one-year protection order from Kyle. She said Chasity was seeking help from the shelter before she died.
“She was excited to start over,” Sund said. “She was ecstatic to have a second chance at life away from Mr. Dean.”
If you or someone you know needs help with a domestic violence situation, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-7233.
Most Popular
Comments / 0