A Lincoln man is in jail and his ex-girlfriend in the hospital after LPD’s SWAT team rescued her from a home near 2nd and Santa Fe Trail around 10:30 Thursday night. LPD Assistant Chief Jason Stille says 42-year-old Jesserae Beck was found injured inside a home near 2nd and Santa Fe Trail.
Stille says the SWAT team worked with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and Nebraska State Patrol in serving a search warrant on the rental home around 10:30. While approaching the home, officers could smell a strong odor of natural gas.
When officers finally entered the home Stille says they found Beck and 36-year-old Christopher Collins in a bedroom. “She has injuries all over her body, not to mention the emotional trauma that she had to have gone through. She’s endured a lot, but she is a fighter. I am really happy with the outcome.”
Beck and Collins were safely evacuated from the home and some neighboring homes were evacuated until the gas could be shut off. Stille praised Beck for her bravery during her ordeal. “This is why we do this job. It’s for the Jesseraes in our community and she was a warrior. She turned seconds into minutes and stretched minutes into hours to allow us to find her.”
Collins was taken to the hospital after officers use a Taser on him. He was also treated for an injury to the back of his head. He was then taken to the Lancaster County Jail where he was booked for domestic assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment, terroristic threats, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and violation of a protection order.
Lt. Michelle Jochum is in charge of the LPD Special Victims Unit and said Friday morning this case highlights the unpredictable and dangerous nature of domestic violence situations. “We want to be clear that victims are never to blame for the actions of their abusers.”
Jochum says domestic violence is a very complex situation and decisions that are often made by survivors that are shaped by fear, hope, difficult circumstances.