SALINE CO.— A Galatia man has been jailed after the woman who had been living with him told authorities that he struck her with a handgun and choked her unconscious.
According to information filed in the case, on May 10, at approximately 5:17 p.m. officer Jerod Campbell met Megan Erkmann at the parking lot of the Galatia Police Department to speak with her about a domestic battery she claimed to have been the victim of.
Erkmann told Campbell that she and her boyfriend Robert Mills, 33, of Naugles Road, Galatia, were at a party in the early morning hours of May 10.
She advised that as they left the party she and Robert had begun to argue as they made their way back to his house.
She said they continued arguing after they had returned home and that Robert had called her a “stupid bitch” and told her to get out.
She said she replied back but couldn’t remember what it was she had said.
Whatever it was, she claims it so pissed off Robert that he decided to pull out a handgun and hit her in the head with it, knocking her to the ground.
Erkmann said she then began fighting with Mills on the ground and that he choked her until she passed out.
She said when she woke up she ran out of the house and called a friend to come and pick her up.
Erkmann said the entire incident of violence took place in the kitchen and living room area of the house around 3:30 a.m.
She said she had been living with Mills for about two months, with the last month being there by herself because Mills worked on the river and was gone every other month.
Claims Erkmann was acting strange
When interviewed, Mills told somewhat of a different story.
Mills told officer Campbell, after Mills was placed in two pairs of double locked handcuffs, that he and Erkmann had gone to a friend’s party and that she was acting strange.
He said she would not get out of his truck and that he kept bringing her beer to drink while she sat in the truck.
He said when they left they began to argue and the argument continued after they had arrived back at his house.
Mills said she wouldn’t leave him alone and kept following him around the trailer and when he would try and leave she would throw herself in front of the door and if he went to the back door she would run over to that and stand in the way.
Mills said he finally had enough and pushed her out of the way and left, heading to Harrisburg to get away from her for a while.
He said when he got back she was gone.
Officer Campbell said before he took Mills to the county detention center, at some point, which is unclear what point exactly, Erkmann took all her “stuff” out of Mills’ house and said she was moving out.
Second interview
When Campbell spoke with Mills at the county detention center he was informed that Mills and Erkmann had gone out on a date two months back and she had informed him that she was “down on her luck and needed a place to stay.”
Mills agreed to let Erkmann stay at his place with the agreement that it was for a short time until she could find a place of her own.
He said she moved out with a friend at one point but returned.
Mills said that some time later Erkmann got a job and said that after a couple of paychecks she would get a place of her own.
He said the deal was that since he was getting ready to leave for work on the river for a month that Erkmann could stay at his place but that she’d have to get a place of her own when he got back.
Mills said he had been back from his month on the river when he informed Erkmann she needed to move out as she had agreed.
He said she demanded $500 before she’d leave and that he’d been trying to get her out of his house ever since, but she wouldn’t leave.
A point of interest is that the officer did not mention in the filed report, anyway, whether or not he noticed any injuries on Erkmann from being “hit in the head with a handgun,” choked until she was unconscious or whether or not she sought any medical attention for her alleged injuries.
Mills has no criminal history.
Erkmann, on the other hand, is a convicted felon from 2010 when she was found guilty of Obstruction of Justice and sentenced to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, two years probation and ordered to pay $700 in fines and fees, of which she still owes $650.
Mills was booked into the county jail on a charged of Aggravated Domestic Battery/Strangulation.
He was released from police custody May 11 after a $500 cash bond was posted on his behalf by Patricia McDowell of Stonefort.
Grabbed and slapped
In an unrelated case, a Carbondale woman has been charged with three felony counts after authorities say on May 11 she decided to make her way into somebody’s house and attack her.
According to information filed in the case, Kaylen M. Barnes, 24, of 184 Poker Run Road knowingly entered the home of Keyanna G. Warren, located at 117 West Lincoln, in Harrisburg at a time when she one or more people were in the residence.
Once inside Barnes is said to have “grabbed” Warren and then when Warren tried to call 911, she allegedly slapped the phone out of her hand.
For her efforts, Barnes was charged with one count each of Criminal Trespass to an Occupied Residence, Domestic Battery and Interference with the Reporting of Domestic Violence.
Bond in the case has been set at $1,000.