BUCKHANNON – A Buckhannon man remains incarcerated at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail after being arrested last week for allegedly attempting to strangle his girlfriend and claiming he had formulated plans to kill her and “bury her body.”
According to criminal complaints in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Lt. Doug Loudin with the Buckhannon Police Department, Timothy “TJ” Spangler Jr., 33, was arrested Friday, Sept. 27 for malicious assault, a felony; domestic battery, second offense, a misdemeanor; and domestic assault, also a misdemeanor.
The file states that while at a Cleveland Avenue residence, Spangler allegedly grabbed the victim by her hair, threw her to the ground and then tried to wrap an extension cord around her neck in an attempt to strangle her.
However, the cord “caught her by the mouth instead,” causing red marks to appear on both sides of her month, Loudin wrote in the report.
Spangler then allegedly shoved the victim’s face into couch cushions, threatened to kill her and informed her he had plans to “bury her body” with another individual, the report says.
Loudin noted the victim had suffered a red mark on her neck, a welt on the back of the neck and was complaining of neck and back pain. According to the complaint, Spangler was previously convicted of domestic battery April 26, 2011.
Bond was set at $125,000 surety.
The penalty for a conviction of malicious assault is confinement for two to 10 years in the state penitentiary, while the penalty for domestic assault is imprisonment for up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $100 or both.
If convicted of second-offense domestic battery, Spangler would face confinement in jail for a term of not less than 60 days but not more than one year, a fine of up to $1,000 or both.