4 charged in Columbus kidnapping and barn beating; 1 suspect on the run
Update: According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, Zablin Woodruff turned himself in Friday morning.
COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) — Four people were charged Thursday for kidnapping, beating, and leaving a 19-year-old in an abandoned barn on the east side of Columbus. One of the four people charged is missing, according to the Bartholomew County Prosecuting Attorney.
19-year-old Zablin Woodruff is missing and charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of criminal confinement, one count of aggravated battery, and one count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury.
Charles Breedlove, 18, is charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of criminal confinement, one count of aggravated battery, and one count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury.
Ashton Fields, 18, is charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of criminal confinement, one count of aggravated battery, and one count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury.
Emily Franklin, 18, is charged with two counts of aiding, inducing, or causing robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, one count of kidnapping, and one count of aiding, inducing, or causing aggravated battery.
According to a probable cause affidavit, on June 3, a Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office deputy was sent to Columbus Regional Hospital on report of a battery.
Upon arrival, the deputy found a man with dried blood on the side of his face, a bleeding lip, a large laceration on his face, and several cuts on his face.
The man said Franklin had picked him at his house the night before just after 11 p.m.
Franklin had told him they would go pick up food. She took him to a barn in the 3400 block of Bonnell Road.
When they arrived at the barn, Woodruff opened the passenger door, grabbed the man’s neck, and dragged him out of the car.
Breedlove then punched the man in the face, and dragged him into the barn, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Both Breedlove, Woodruff, and Fields were masked.
Woodruff and Breedlove then took turns trying to cut the man with a knife. Breedlove had a pistol in his waistband and pistol whipped him, the man said.
“I’m going to blow your head off,” Breedlove said. “These are your last minutes on earth.”
Woodruff held the man down while Breedlove cut off his hair with a pair of scissors. Then, they cut his throat with the same scissors.
Woodruff and Breedlove told the man to wait in the barn for 30 minutes, or they would continue beating him. They took his phone, sweatshirt, and shoes.
The man waited in the barn for over an hour before leaving.
After waiting an hour, the man ran to a nearby neighborhood and knocked on the door of three houses. He then knocked on the door of an Indiana State Trooper. He was taken to a local hospital.
During the investigation, deputies found that Fields was wearing a mask during the beating, but was likely involved.
Fields later told police he watched Woodruff and Breedlove beat the man. Franklin said Woodruff and Breedlove had asked her to set the man up for the beating.
Breedlove, Fields, and Franklin are being held at the Bartholomew County Jail.
