Wittenberg man charged with attempted homicide

WITTENBERG — A Wittenberg man was charged Thursday with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly cutting a woman’s throat during an attack in the town of Wittenberg on Tuesday.

Jeremy J. Rudie, 31, could face a maximum 60 years in prison if found guilty.

According to the criminal complaint, Rudie was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by his girlfriend on U.S. Highway 45 shortly before 11 p.m. when the two got into a verbal dispute.

The incident turned into a physical altercation after the woman stopped the vehicle and told Rudie to get out of the car.

The complaint alleges Rudie retrieved a carpet knife from a tool box in the backseat, cut the woman’s throat and stabbed her while also choking her.

The woman’s 4-year-old daughter was also a passenger in the car.

The complaint states Rudie also grabbed the woman’s cell phone and threw it into the woods to prevent her from contacting police.

According to the complaint, the attack ended when another vehicle happened to pass by.

The driver took the woman and her daughter to a gas station in Tigerton where she called 911.

Rudie is also charged with felony counts of strangulation and suffocation, domestic abuse-related aggravated battery with the use of a dangerous weapon and intimidation of a victim with the use of a dangerous weapon.

He was ordered held on a $125,000 cash bond. His next court date was not yet scheduled.