Lanesville man booked in WC jail on multiple violent charges

By: 
Staff Writer Kate Wehlann

Some battery incidents occurred in Washington County

Joshua Hill, 33, Lanesville, was arrested on Monday, March 30, following an investigation into his abuse of the mother of his children and neglect of his children.

State Trooper Michael McCutcheon went to Clark Memorial Hospital on Thursday, March 26, to speak with a woman who said her ex-boyfriend and father of her children, a 5-year-old and 7-week-old, had battered her. She went to the Indiana State Police Post after being released from the hospital to give a statement.

McCutcheon said in his probable cause affidavit he first saw the woman’s black eye and swollen left cheek, along with bruising to her wrist.

The woman said Hill had supervised visitation with her children. She said the previous Saturday, Hill had asked if he could take the children, with her as well, to a new campsite he acquired in Washington County to spend several days with them there until Monday, March 23. She agreed, saying she wanted the children to spend time with Hill.

The woman said when Hill arrived at her mother’s house, where she lives, he and her mother got into a confrontation due to past issues between them. Still, they left and stopped at a store in Charlestown so she could return some merchandise on their way. When she came back to the car, she said Hill was angry because he thought she had taken too long in the store, and claimed she was thinking about leaving him, and the baby was crying. She told McCutcheon he took her cell phone and broke it.

As they were driving near the Greenville exit in Floyd County, she said Hill elbowed her in the left eye and put her in a headlock while she was driving. She said he told her if she ever left him he would kill her. She said she felt scared and unable to leave the vehicle in fear he would hurt the children.

After they arrived at the campsite in Washington County, she took the children inside a trailer at the campsite. She walked out to the car to get a diaper bag and said Hill tackled her to the ground and choked her until she lost consciousness. She said when she woke up, Hill was on top of her and had her arms pinned to the ground above her head. She said he was yelling at her, telling her he would kill her if she left him and would “chop up her body.”

She said she was afraid the rest of the time they were at the campsite for both her safety and the children’s. She said Hill continued to grab her and threaten her and wouldn’t let her leave his sight.

That Sunday, Hill’s parents came to visit the children, but Hill made the kids’ mother stay in the camper and not have any contact with his parents.

That Monday, the woman said she was supposed to pick up her oldest daughter, but Hill wouldn’t let her leave or make a phone call. She said Hill was afraid someone would see her black eye. They made a trip to Walgreens in Salem for food, but Hill made her stay inside the vehicle. She didn’t call out for help because she was afraid of what Hill would do.

On March 24, she said Hill finally let her call her mother and daughter, but made her put the call on speaker phone so he could monitor the call.

On March 26, the woman convinced Hill to take her home for childcare necessities. When they arrived back at her mother’s house, her mother saw the bruised eye and called the police.

She said Jeffersonville Police told the woman to contact the Floyd County Police since the actual battery had occurred there. The Floyd County Sheriff’s Department told her to call the state police as the incident involved multiple counties.

DCS had also been called because of the children involved. The 5-year-old told investigators he saw Hill batter their mother in the car, and also witnessed the abuse at the campsite.

Officers went to Hill’s campsite to speak with him and execute search warrants on the campsite and seize the woman’s phone, which was still in Hill’s possession. However, Hill was not there. Another officer informed McCutcheon Hill’s vehicle was parked at his parents’ house in Lanesville.

While McCutcheon was en route, he was informed Hill’s vehicle had left his parents’ home, but he was eventually stopped and detained on State Road 62 near Georgetown.

Hill claimed he was married to the woman he is accused of battering, and denied having her phone. He claimed the last time he saw it, she had it during their visit to the campsite. Officers then found her phone in his toolbox. He claimed he’d found it in the pocket behind the front passenger seat of his car and placed it in the toolbox after he found it.

He told officers he assumed the woman had injured herself while stepping on deck boards at the trailer, and said he had repaired the planks since the visit. He went with officers to the site and showed them where he assumed the woman had received her injuries.

“I along with other troopers determined that the location as described by Hill was false, in that physical evidence indicated that no repair work had been done at the location,” McCutcheon’s report read.

Hill was arrested and taken to the Washington County Detention Center, where he was preliminarily charged with domestic battery with a prior unrelated conviction, strangulation, criminal confinement, neglect of a dependent and intimidation.

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