St. Louis man charged with kidnapping, assault in Maries County
MARIE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A St. Louis man was charged with several felonies in Maries County after he allegedly pointed a gun at a woman’s head and made her drive toward Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday.
Diallo Lawson Kelly was charged with first-degree kidnapping, armed criminal action, second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. A warrant was issued and an initial court appearance was held on Tuesday. A counsel status hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 2.
According to the probable cause statement, a man received a photo through a text message of an unknown man at his house and his wife in distress. The probable cause statement says the wife was possibly having an affair with the man in the photo. Law enforcement went to the residence and didn’t find anyone.
The mother of the woman called Maries County Dispatch and allegedly said her daughter was texting her to “pray for her” and that a man was holding a gun to her head, the statement says. Another law enforcement officer had received the phone number of the man the woman was with and deputies were able to match a Department of Revenue photo with the man in the photo sent to the husband, the statement says.
Dispatch then received a phone call from one of the woman’s coworkers who stated the woman called her and kept repeating herself with phrases such as she was “in control of her situation,” the statement says.
The St. Louis County Police Department stopped a vehicle with the woman and Kelly and detained both, the statement says. The woman was apparently afraid to speak with police in fear of Kelly possibly trying to kill her if they were both released, court documents say. Maries County deputies went to Jennings, Missouri, to pick up Kelly and brought him back to the Maries County Jail, the statement says.
The woman allegedly told deputies that Kelly held a gun to her head while driving to St. Louis, the statement says. She allegedly said that she was in a relationship with Kelly and invited him to her residence on Sunday. The two were originally watching a show and the woman went outside to give her dad a phone call for Father’s Day, the statement says.
Kelly then allegedly accused the woman of cheating on him and assaulted her while holding a gun, the statement says. Kelly allegedly wanted to go to Louisville, Kentucky. He apparently pointed a loaded gun at the woman’s head at least 20 times during the drive to St. Louis County, the statement says.
Kelly denied the allegations to deputies and claimed he never owned a gun, court documents say. He claimed he wanted to go to St. Peters to get a hotel for a job interview, the statement says. He then claimed he wanted to go to Louisville to get a bus ticket to Chicago.
