ELY- The district court in Virginia has issued two warrants for an Ely man after an investigation of a domestic altercation on Jan. 4. That’s when Ely Police Sergeant Brad Roy responded to an early morning call for a burglary in progress. During the investigation of that call, Roy visited a woman at her Ely residence, where Roy observed the woman had visible red marks on her neck and had difficulty breathing. When Roy inquired, she told him that she had been in a fight with Austin James Swanson, age 30, with whom she had been in a relationship. After the fight, he had left the residence. She said he took her dog with him when he left.
Roy observed the woman also had injuries to her face. Based on her condition, Roy called for an ambulance. The woman told him that Swanson had broken her phone and then “beat the s*** out of her,” according to the statement of probable cause filed in the case. She also told Roy the injuries on her face were from Swanson, and that the injuries to her neck were from his “grabbing her around the neck with both hands, and as he did so, he was squeezing and shaking her head, making it difficult to breathe.” She alleged that Swanson had threatened that he was not going to leave her residence until he killed her.
Roy observed blood on the woman’s pants. She responded that the blood was Swanson’s from when she had hit him in the head to get him off of her. She said she then fled the residence. When she returned, both Swanson and her dog were gone. The woman also related that in the past, Swanson has choked her, stalked her, and threatened to kill her.
Roy, with other law enforcement officers, later visited the residence of Swanson’s mother in Winton in an attempt to find Swanson. Swanson’s mother “came out of her residence and yelled that law enforcement needed to hear Swanson’s side of the story.” At the time, the missing dog was with Swanson’s mother, who said her son had dropped the dog off with her and then left.
Swanson later called Roy from “out of town” but said he would come in that evening to give a statement. He asked Roy what the charges were against him. Roy said there weren’t any because he hadn’t heard Swanson’s account of the incident. Swanson then related that the woman had hit him in the back of the head with a hammer, which his mother had wrapped in a paper towel at her Winton home. Roy advised Swanson to bring any evidence he had with him when he came to give a statement.
At 1:14 p.m. that afternoon, Swanson sent Roy a text saying he “was not running,” but that he would only speak to Police Chief Chad Houde on Monday, Jan. 6. On Jan. 6, Asst. Chief Lorenz informed Roy that Swanson had called and said he would not be in to give a statement.
Swanson finally did provide a statement on Jan. 12 at the Ely Police Station. He brought a hammer, his phone, and photographs that he said his mother took after the Jan. 4 incident. He also brought medical records for the treatment he received for the head injury. He claimed that at the Jan. 4 incident, the woman had been drinking and that they got into an argument. He said she then threw her phone at him. When he picked it up, she “beat the f*** out of him.” He stated he pushed her away. He fled to the bathroom where she punched him.
As he tried to leave the residence, he said she jumped on his back and then “wrapped her legs around his waist, grabbed his throat with one arm, bit his ear, and punched him in the face.” He stated that when he tried to call the police, she took his phone from him, grabbed a hammer, and smashed his phone. When he bent to put his boots on, he alleged that “everything went black” and that when he came to, he was on the floor in a fetal position and she was hitting him with the hammer. He related that he kicked her off of him and grabbed the hammer. After getting a towel “for the blood,” he said she was “standing in the kitchen with a pistol.” He claimed he then tackled her and took the pistol from her, sliding it under a couch. He then took his boots, hammer, and phone, and left. He called his mother from a neighbor’s house, who told him to come to her place. He also said he didn’t take the dog, but that the dog followed him. A friend, who also gave a statement, later took him to the hospital in Virginia.
Swanson denied “punching, kicking, or choking” the woman, and that “he only threw her into the wall and the floor to try to get her off of him.” He also stated that he went to the hospital in Virginia the next day because “he did not trust the Ely hospital or the Ely police.”
Swanson has 2015 felony convictions for first degree witness tampering and second-degree assault. He also has a 2022 felony conviction for third degree assault against the same woman involved in the Jan. 4 incident. Swanson received a stay of adjudication and four years of supervised probation for the 2022 offense.
The St. Louis County Attorney’s Office requested a warrant for Swanson on March 19 for three alleged felonies, including second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, threats of violence, and assault by strangulation and one count of gross misdemeanor domestic assault.
On March 20, Swanson’s probation officer filed paperwork with the Sixth District Court stating that Swanson had allegedly violated the terms of his probation for his 2022 offense. The document requested that the stay of adjudication be vacated and a warrant issued for Swanson’s apprehension.
When asked about the delay between the Jan. 4 incident and the issuance of warrants against Swanson, Police Chief Chad Houde noted that domestic incidents can require considerable investigation to sort out the facts. “With domestic situations, it’s not always clear if there could be one person charged or two people charged. Sometimes, if there are questions at the beginning as to what happened, the situation will go into an investigation. With minor domestic incidents, we only have 48 hours to make an arrest, but with felonies, we can make an arrest any time afterward. After the St. Louis Attorney’s Office decided a warrant was appropriate in this case after reviewing the evidence and the results of our investigation.”
Swanson was still at large when this article went to press. His last known address according to the warrant paperwork is at an apartment in Ely.