Maxwell flees, hides out in Republic business where cops find, arrest him

Alleged altercation over phone leads to domestic assault charge
A Republic man was arrested after he allegedly attacked a woman when she refused to give him the passcode to her phone. Kyle Allen Maxwell, 36, is charged with first-degree domestic assault in the incident.

Woman claims Maxwell attacked her after she received a text
According to the probable cause statement in the case, Maxwell made contact with the woman at her residence in Republic at 7 a.m. Monday, Jan. 23. Soon after he arrived, the woman received a text message on her phone. The woman reported to police that Maxwell became angry and asked her for the passcode to her phone, but she refused to give it to him. Then, the woman said, Maxwell held her down and attempted to use Face ID to unlock the phone.
The woman then reported that Maxwell threw her on the bed and began “choking her, hitting her in the face and pulling her hair.” She also said that Maxwell assaulted her on the bed and on the floor of the bedroom, and that she fought back by grabbing Maxwell’s genitals and gouging his eyes.
To get Maxwell to let her go, the woman said, she told him that there was a camera recording him, but he didn’t care. Then she told him that a person, whose name was redacted from the probable cause statement, was at the garage door. At that point, Maxwell let her go.
The woman then ran out of the house and to her neighbor’s. The woman also reported that Maxwell said that he told her that he had “already gone too far,” that he had to “finish her off,” and that if he was going to jail, “he was going to go for something good.”
After the incident, a Republic Police officer spoke with the woman; the officer noted that the woman had a number of injuries, including bruising and swelling to her forehead, nose and eyebrows, abrasions on her knees and a scratch and redness to the back of her neck.

Maxwell caught at Premier Choice
Officers from the Republic Police Department came to the residence to look for him; they later discovered he’d fled the residence and ran into the woods; he was found later at the office of Premier Choice about two miles away. Eva Ramirez, a staff member at Premier Choice, said she encountered Maxwell when he came into the office.
“I was sitting at my desk when I had noticed a man walk by, when he then proceeded to walk back and sit in our front waiting area,” she said. “Our office is typically a by-appointment office, but it’s not uncommon for walk-ins to happen. I walked out to the waiting area to greet them, when Kyle let me know he was waiting on a ride because his truck was ‘broken down over in the McDonald’s parking lot’. This seemed odd, because there were much closer places to wait, but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I had walked back to get my phone off of my desk because I was the only one at the office. Standing at the front desk, I started small talk when he asked to use my phone to call his ride. His phone was ‘dead’.
Ramirez was trying to help Maxwell find a ride when they both saw a Republic police officer drive past them. At this point, she said, Maxwell went into a “hunker down-type of position.” A few minutes later, a Republic police officer came into the office and asked Ramirez if she’d seen anybody; she used her eye contact with the officer to get him to look in Maxwell’s direction. The officer, who was shortly thereafter joined by other law enforcement, took Maxwell into custody.
Shortly afterwards, Ramirez said law enforcement officers repeatedly asked her if Maxwell had tried to intimidate her.
“I was asked about four times if I was threatened by Kyle,” she said. “By the fourth time, I asked the cop if Kyle was dangerous, and they let me know that he was.”

Glad nobody was hurt
Ramirez said she was thankful that no one was hurt during her encounter with Maxwell.
“My reaction was kind of all over the place,” she said, “but mostly I was just thankful that everyone was unharmed during this small event. I truly believe that me being kind had something small to do with the outcome. (I am ) also very thankful to whoever it was that made a call, the cops thought I had called him in… but I wasn’t really in an ideal place to make a call.”
Ramirez also said an officer told her that in addition to calling 911, people can reach emergency services by texting 911.

Maxwell allegedly made conflicting statements
Maxwell was detained and Mirandized; he spoke with an officer after being read his rights.
According to the probable cause statement, Maxwell told the officer that the woman had received a text, but that she struck him over the ear and blocked a doorway to the room they were in so that he could not exit. He also said that he grabbed her by the arm and around the throat and pushed her on the bed, but said he told the woman he would let her up when she stopped hitting him. He also said that he let the woman up when another person arrived at the residence.
The officer reported that Maxwell admitted to having the woman’s phone and that he left it in the woods near her residence. He also said he did not know why he had possession of the phone, and he didn’t realize he had the phone when he left the residence, but later said he had the phone because he’d been asking for the woman’s passcode. He also stated that there was a large lump above his left ear from where the woman struck him, but the officer reported that there was no indication of any injury there. However, the officer did report that Maxwell had injuries to his face and right hand that corroborated the victim’s statement.

Bond reduced to $10,000
According to online court records, Maxwell appeared in court on Monday, Jan. 30. Originally held without bond, the court reduced his bond to a $10,000 bond with the special condition that he report to the bonding company each morning by 8 a.m. Maxwell is next scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, March 1, for a preliminary hearing. As of press time, he remained in custody at the Greene County Jail.