Robert Neal Abney allegedly broke into a woman’s home and used a hatchet to injure a man. (Mugshot: Hendricks County Sheriff’s Department)
An Indiana man allegedly broke into the home of his girlfriend and used a hatchet to strike a man he found sleeping in her bed.
Robert Neal Abney, 42, was arrested Saturday on attempted murder and breaking and entering a residential dwelling, records show.
According to documents, he asserted he went to the residence in Hendricks County after he could not reach the woman by phone.
“He said she had previously gotten into it with people that wanted to hurt her,” the affidavit said.
The man said he did not live at the home, but he was staying there that night because the woman was afraid of Abney. According to documents, she called 911 as Abney forced his way into the home.
“Please f—— god,” she said. “Please get here.”
She said she was going to die and needed to hide, the affidavit said.
“My ex just kicked in my window and hit somebody in the head with a hatchet,” she said in documents.
She hid in a closet. She said she had heard someone knocking on the window and yelling her name.
“She said he kicked in her window and came through it like a ‘spider monkey,” the affidavit said.
He allegedly ran around the bed to the light switch and turned on the light.
“I heard smack,” she said, “with that f——- hatchet.”
The victim said he was sleeping on the bed.
“He didn’t recall hearing anything, but he felt pain on the left side of his head,” the affidavit stated. “He jumped up onto the bed. He said that Abney was standing in the hallway saying he was going to kill him.”
Deputies said the victim was bleeding from the left side of his head. Though the man refused treatment, medical staff said he would likely need staples, had swelling, and needed an X-ray to confirm if his skull was not fractured.
Abney told police he arrived home to find “somebody in my bed.”
The woman had described Abney as staying at the home from time to time.
“I tried to get him up,” he allegedly said. “I don’t know what happened to his fucking head, but we got into it.”
He said that the woman started freaking out and went into the bathroom, the affidavit stated.
“Yes, he was in my bed,” Abney allegedly said, “Laying there naked with my girl.”
Later he allegedly denied threatening the man.
He said he allegedly got into the home through the back window, held by heater tape.
“No, I don’t know,” he said when asked if he entered with the hatchet and that he thought it was in the house, according to documents.
“Then he said he didn’t hit him with hatchet and/or he didn’t remember hitting him with it. He said he just remembered getting into it with him.”
In a phone call with his father in front of investigators, he allegedly said that the hatchet was lying next to the bed and “I smacked him in the side of the head with it, I guess.”
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