Troy man charged with assault, strangulation of online girlfriend

A Troy man is in Lincoln County Jail on a $100,000 bond after being charged with aggravated assault and strangulation of a partner or family member.

Colton Sheppard of Mineral Avenue in Troy was charged after being accused of assault and of driving his alleged victim’s car into the Kootenai River near Roosevelt Park late Tuesday.

At 11:08 p.m. Tuesday, Troy Police Officer Travis Miller was dispatched to Mineral Avenue for a woman reported standing in the middle of the road and screaming for help.

When Miller reached the scene, the woman ran up to his door begging for help, according to Miller’s affidavit.

The woman told Miller that her boyfriend had beaten her up. When he looked at her with better light, Miller discovered she was covered in blood and had injuries to her nose and right ear.

Miller transported the woman to safety, and questioned her while they waited for an ambulance.

The woman identified Sheppard as her attacker. She said she had met him online, and that day had been the first time she had met him in person.

While Miller interviewed her, he took pictures of the woman’s injuries, noting that her right ear had been ripped all the way through and that she had deep puncture wounds behind her left ear and one on her nose.

The two were drinking together when Sheppard asked to use the woman’s cell phone to call his boss. The woman told Miller that Sheppard was upset by the number of men she had in her contacts.

The woman told Miller that Sheppard struck her in the face, and in the car on the way back to his apartment he continued to assault her, according to the affidavit. As the night went on, Sheppard hit, slapped and strangled the woman.

He also contacted one of the woman’s male friends through the Facetime app on her phone, and beat the woman while the friend watched.

When the woman attempted to leave, Sheppard took her phone and left in her car with a rope, telling her he intended to kill himself.

While Miller was talking with the woman, Troy dispatch informed him that Sheppard had driven into the Kootenai River.

By that time, Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies John Davis and Jeff Streifling had arrived at Miller’s location, and the three proceeded to the boat ramp at Roosevelt Park.

The car was discovered in the river up to the front doors, but was unoccupied.

Deputies Brent Faulkner and Steve Short arrived to assist, and Streifling found Sheppard passed out under a bridge by the fishing pond.

Sheppard was transported to Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, and Short and Miller went to Sheppard’s apartment.

Miller’s affidavit states that they received permission from Sheppard’s probation officer to enter the apartment and take pictures, and there they found blood, hair and saliva on the floor.

There was also blood on the walls, door and almost every floor in the house. The front door was broken, and Miller reported a hole in the wall of one of the rooms.

When Miller and deputies went to Cabinet Peaks, Sheppard would not cooperate and “was very defiant,” according to the affidavit.

Miller noted that Sheppard had been charged with strangulation previously by another police department.