An Ocala landscaper was arrested Thursday in connection with a domestic violence case reported filed earlier this month involving a frantic woman who was suffering from multiple injuries.
The injured woman flagged down a Florida Highway Patrol officer on Aug. 7, who then contacted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. The woman had run up the trooper’s car while he was parked on the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 75 at County Road 484.
A short time later, a sheriff’s deputy met the woman at the Pilot Travel Center at 2020 SW County Road 484, where she claimed that 31-year-old Willie Fred Heaven had attacked her after she had gotten off work.
The woman said when she walked in the door of their house on SE 33rd Avenue, Heaven “became verbally aggressive” and “slapped her across the face with an open palm.” The woman said he also punched her in the face with a closed fist and grabbed her by the throat, making it difficult for her to breath, the report says.
The woman told the deputy that Heaven then grabbed her by her left arm and hair and forced her into his gray Ford F-250 pickup truck before leaving the residence. She said he drove south on I-75 and continuously punched her in the face while telling her “he was going to find a place to stab and beat her.” He also threatened to “kill her and chop her body up into pieces” with the saws he uses for work, which were in the bed of his truck, the report says.
The deputy noted that the woman had multiple injuries to her face, neck, back and right arm. And she was “nervously shaking and exhibited a well-founded fear for her life while giving her statement,” the report says.
After initially being unable to locate Heaven, detectives spoke with the woman again and noted that her left eye and ear were “swollen severely,” there was bruising on the left side of her neck and shoulders, and her right arm had scratch marks on it. She told them the same account of the story she had shared with the deputy but added that she made contact with the FHP trooper after escaping from Heaven’s truck on the I-75 off-ramp. She also recalled that during the incident she lost consciousness at one point and Heaven “poured some kind of liquor on her to wake her up,” the report says.
A search of Heaven’s criminal history revealed that he had numerous prior battery convictions. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was taken into custody Thursday and booked into the Marion County Jail at 10:51 a.m. He was charged with kidnapping (inflicting bodily harm or terrorizing a victim) and battery (second or subsequent offense) and released early Saturday morning on $25,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.
Jail records show that Heaven has been housed in the facility 13 times since November 2005. During that time, he’s faced 43 different charges that have included (some more than once): grand theft, criminal mischief, tampering with a victim, possession of crack cocaine, sale of crack cocaine, domestic battery, auto theft, burglary (commercial), aggravated domestic battery (great bodily harm); resisting arrest with violence; resisting arrest without violence; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; aggravated battery with a deadly weapon; fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer; probation violations for resisting arrest with violence, resisting arrest without violence, attempting to elude a police officer and obstructing a criminal investigation; driving with a suspended or revoked license; tampering with evidence; robbery with a firearm; possession of cocaine; possession of marijuana (less than 20 grams); battery on a law enforcement officer; driving with no valid driver’s license and kidnapping.