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Woman bound, beaten in terrifying ordeal

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By Abigail Rowe

Sun Editor

When Gallup Police Department Officer Timothy Hughte arrived at the 400 block of South 5th Street on a call Dec. 11, he did not know if the female victim he coming to assist was alive or dead.


The victim’s mother met with officers as they arrived on the scene. It was 12:18 am. She informed Hughte that she had found her daughter and located her pulse.


The victim, who is in her early 20s, was sitting on the floor inside the residence beside a tipped over chair. Blood “covered her face,” according to the police report.


Other furniture inside the residence had also been toppled, including a sofa and a television set. Children’s clothing was spread across the floor.


The victim’s hands and feet were bound by a TV cord. The blood, a result of cuts to her face, appeared recent, and “was still wet and sticky,” according to Hughte’s report. The victim also sustained a fractured wrist.


Carefully, Hughte removed the binding from her hands and ankles. Hughte was able to untie and pull off the cord around her hands, but the DVD cord used to bind her feet had to be severed.


Hughte asked the victim for information about who had assaulted her, but she evaded the questions. She seemed “in a daze and seemed lost,” according to Hughte’s report.

 

Medical staff transported the victim to the hospital.


After the victim was taken away from the scene, Hughte discovered blood where she had been sitting. Blood was also found on the television that lay on the floor.


While Hughte was investigating inside, a man approached the house. GPD Officer Cellicion detained the man, who was then identified as Jalen Clarke, 24.


Clarke had no weapons. But he did have blood smeared on his face, and a fresh injury on his thumb, according to the report.


Hughte noticed that Clarke’s hands and shirt sleeves were wet, as if they had recently been washed.


Hughte took Clarke to the GPD for questioning, where he admitted to tying up the victim and to texting a photograph of her, after she had been bound, to his mother’s phone.


Clarke was charged with kidnapping and aggravated battery. He is being held at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center on a $2,000 cash surety bond. As of Dec. 14, 6:25 pm, he remains in custody.

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