A Durango man was being held Thursday in the La Plata County jail on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman and cutting her neck.
Tommy James Weaver, 44, was being held on $50,000 bail on suspicion of felony sexual assault and attempted first-degree murder, said Burke Baldwin, investigator with the Durango Police Department.
The victim was described as Durango woman, about 35 years old.
She reported the assault at 7:51 p.m. Wednesday from the Spanish Trails Inn & Suites, 3141 Main Ave. But the assault occurred earlier in the day at a trailer park in the east 800 block of Fourth Street, Baldwin said.
Weaver and the woman drank beer and smoked marijuana at his home, Baldwin said. At some point, Weaver became upset and grabbed the woman’s hair and threw her into a couch, he said.
She began crying, and he pinned her down, Baldwin said.
Weaver pulled down her pants and tried to have sexual intercourse with her, Baldwin said.
The woman had a cut to the right side of her neck, bruises, a large bump on her head and blood-soaked clothes, he said.
“It was a pretty significant cut,” Baldwin said. “It certainly looked like the type of thing that she needed to go get about 30 stitches to close it up.”
Had the cut occurred in a slightly different location, it could have hit an artery, causing death, he said.
Police went to Weaver’s home and arrested him without incident.
During an interview with police, Weaver initially acted as if he didn’t know what investigators were talking about. He eventually admitted the woman came over to his house and they drank beer together, Baldwin said. He also admitted to smoking methamphetamine, Baldwin said.
Weaver told police things became heated, and the woman began “acting crazy.” He threatened her with a metal bookshelf bracket and cut her throat with it. During the course of the fight, Weaver said she was wiggling away from him and her pants got pulled off, Baldwin said.
“Weaver claimed that this was accidental on his part, and he denied attempting to sexually assault her,” Baldwin said.
Police executed a search warrant at the house Thursday morning and recovered the metal bracket and a box cutter close to where the assault occurred, Baldwin said. Police also found some of the victim’s clothing and what appeared to be methamphetamine.
shane@durangoherald.com
