The 39-year-old woman and Travis Montrell Williams, 40, had broken up that day after living together for nine years. The woman went to work Friday evening (Mar. 6), but she alleges Williams kept calling her and making threats.









At one point the woman put him on speaker phone so a colleague could hear that Williams was allegedly threatening her life, according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s arrest report. He was claiming she was in possession of his food stamps card, and that when she’d get back home, “he was going to kill her,” the report states. (She did in fact have the card.)

The woman hung up. Soon after that, Williams showed up at Princeton Village, the assisted living facility where his ex works, and at one point–again on the phone–threatened to “smash” the woman’s neck, an alleged threat he made using an expletive. The woman called 911.

Sheriff’s deputies responded–as did Sheriff Rick Staly, who was on one of his regular Friday evening patrols. While a deputy spoke with the woman, Staly was behind the building, looking for Williams’s car–and made contact with him.

Williams, the arrest report states, “refused to communicate” with the sheriff. “I made contact with Sheriff Staly and used loud verbal commands for [Williams] to roll down his vehicle window,” the arresting deputy reported. “After numerous attempts, [Williams] opened his driver’s door and complied with my commands.”

A resident of Ullian Trail in Palm Coast, Williams denied threatening the woman, saying only that he’d asked to have his food stamps card back. He said he went to her place of work to retrieve it, and once he realized he wasn’t going to get it back, decided to head home and wait for the woman there.

On the strength of a witness hearing Williams’s alleged threats by phone, Williams was arrested and charged with domestic assault, a misdemeanor. He posted bail on $2,500 bond and was released.

“I’m glad that we were able to get there before he could harm the victim or the witness,” Staly was quoted as saying in a release. “We have focused on domestic violence as an agency and made strides in reducing domestic violence in Flagler County by implementing numerous resources to aid victims. It is not a problem that will ever disappear completely. I hope that the victim is able to move forward and get out of this violent relationship.”

Williams faced a domestic battery charge last September. The charge was dropped.