Trace Christenson

Battle Creek Enquirer

A 61-year-old Battle Creek man is jailed on a high bond after his arraignment on charges in connection with the death of his girlfriend.

Steve Harmon Jr. was arraigned on charges of assault with intent to murder and aggravated domestic assault when he appeared Tuesday afternoon in Calhoun County District Court.

Magistrate Joseph Brutsche set his bond at $400,000.

Harmon was arrested after Battle Creek police were called at 11:36 p.m. Sunday to an apartment on East Michigan Avenue. Officers said they found his girlfriend, Denise Priestley, 55, injured and bleeding.

"The victim was alive when she was found," Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert said. "She was bleeding profusely from the head. She claimed that the defendant had beaten her with the lid of a kitchen pot. She died nine hours later."

Gilbert said results of an autopsy on Tuesday were not complete and depending on the final determination on cause of death, Harmon could face homicide charges.

"They are trying to determine the cause of death right now," he said.

Priestley had gone to a neighbor near her apartment at Chateau Village, 685 E. Michigan Ave., after she said she was assaulted by Harmon, police also said.

Investigators are trying to determine what was used in the assault after said she told paramedics she was hit with a cup. She also suffered other injuries in the assault, police said, and those may have contributed to or caused her death, police said.

After officers arrived at the apartment, Priestley was taken by LifeCare Ambulance to Bronson Battle Creek, where she died Monday morning.

Harmon was arrested at the scene and has told police he struck the woman in self-defense.

"I wasn't trying to ...," Harmon said during his arraignment. "I just got home. She started all this."

Several members of the woman's family attended the four-minute arraignment but declined interviews with reporters.

A preliminary examination is scheduled for Aug. 30 before Judge Frank Line.

Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson