Man in custody for Sunday Roachdale battery

The Roachdale man wanted on a warrant for a Sunday domestic incident was arrested Wednesday afternoon.

Jerome H. Zeller III, 40, is accused of battering his wife at their Roachdale apartment before threatening to do harm to himself with a shotgun.

All of this was allegedly done in the presence of children.

Acting on information that Zeller was employed in Greencastle, Roachdale Town Marshal Adrian Lepine requested the Greencastle Police Department to search the area.

Sgt. Ed Wilson then located Zeller’s car in a Greencastle parking lot, with both Zeller and his wife sitting inside.

Zeller’s car departed the lot and Wilson initiated a traffic stop on State Road 240 near the Walmart Supercenter.

Zeller was taken into custody without incident and booked in the Putnam County Jail at 3:22 p.m.

He faces one Level 6 felony charge of domestic battery for the Sunday-morning incident.

According to Lepine’s investigation report, he and sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the couple’s apartment behind in the same building as the Roachdale barbershop at 10:48 a.m. Sunday for a possible suicidal subject who had barricaded himself in the residence.

Upon arrival, Lepine and deputies Scott Ducker and Kyle Lee learned that Zeller had fled on foot.

Police were unable to locate Zeller after searching for three hours.

Lepine learned from Zeller’s wife that a verbal altercation began Sunday morning when he returned from work sooner than expected. He allegedly headbutted his wife in the nose, causing it to bleed.

He then grabbed the shotgun and began making threats to shoot himself.

In the meantime, the children and Mrs. Zeller fled into the front barbershop area (The Zellers are neither the barber nor the owners of the building.) before leaving out the front door.

Both children said they heard the argument and saw Zeller making threats to harm himself.

The Level 6 felony charge of domestic battery in the presence of a child less than 16 years old was formally filed in Putnam Superior Court on Tuesday, Nov. 12.