Thornfield man charged with abusing wife, holding her at gunpoint and threatening to kill her

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Jody Weyrauch, 46, of Thornfield, to be held without bond in connection with 11 felony charges involving allegations of kidnapping and domestic assault.

According to the probable cause statement written by Ozark County Deputy Matt Rhoades, on Sunday, Sept. 25, the officer was assigned to a call of a possible domestic assault at a residence on County Road 832, when a woman called 911 and said she was being abused by her husband and needed police aid.

When Rhoades arrived on scene, he made contact with the woman. 

“[She] had several visible marks on her arms that she stated were burn marks from her husband’s cigarettes. She also had significant bruising on her legs and waist from her husband punching and kicking her throughout the day,” the report says. “She stated that he hit her on the head with glass beer bottles and there was redness and swelling on her head consistent with that statement. She informed me that he held her at gun point for several hours while he drove her throughout Ozark, Taney, Christian and Greene Counties against her will two weeks earlier. He told her if she tried to escape, that he would kill her. He had a small .22lr pistol…”

The woman reportedly told Rhoades that she was in fear for her life, and that Weyrauch had taken her phone and told her he’d kill her if she ever reported the abuse.

“I located the male running up the stairs of the house. I pursued and placed him in handcuffs. During a search for the male, I located a glass meth pipe in plain view on his bed. There was four more glass meth pipes on top of his dresser. There was also four blue 031-marked Alprazolam pills in a clear plastic baggy. He does not have a prescription for those pills,” the report says. “During my interaction with Jody, it was apparent that he was under the influence of a drug. His pupils were dilated, he was sweating profusely, his speech was confused and difficult to understand.”