Suspect jailed after possible assault

Maryville police placed a suspect in custody on a 24-hour investigative hold after a 49-year-old woman was hospitalized Thursday in an incident that may have grown out of a road trip gone wrong.

“At this point we have more questions than answers, and the investigation is ongoing and fluid,” Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood said Friday.

Wood said the woman was hastily dropped off at the St. Francis Hospital emergency room by the male driver of a tan Oldsmobile van.

When first encountered by hospital staff, Wood said, the woman appeared mentally confused. But subsequent examination and dialogue with the patient, conducted both by medical personnel and police, soon began to point toward a possible sexual assault.

Wood said the woman and the driver of the van had apparently began traveling together by mutual consent, departing from Des Moines and moving through Cameron and St. Joseph before arriving in Maryville.

Though an alleged assault, or assaults, may have taken place in other jurisdictions, Wood said the case ultimately “wound up on our plate.”

The police chief said the suspect was arrested Thursday night and was being held at the Nodaway County jail pending further investigation and the possible filing of charges.

Wood added that the suspect already faces formal charges in Illinois and perhaps Iowa, and that the Maryville incident could result in bond being revoked in one or both of those states.

As for the reported victim, Wood said the woman has been housed locally at a safe location.