A Tennessee teenager is in jail after police say he beat a man with a plunger before fleeing with the victim’s toddler.
Charles Coffman, 19, is being held at the Knox County Jail after being charged with attempted second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, aggravated kidnapping, and theft.
According to a police report obtained by local NBC affiliate WBIR, officers responded to a request for a welfare check at a Knoxville home around 8:45 a.m. on Sunday. The caller reportedly stated that they believed the man inside was dead and his 3-year-old daughter had been kidnapped.
According to the report, police forced their way inside and discovered the homeowner in the bathroom, naked and with a severe head injury. The house reportedly smelled of bleach, and the child was nowhere to be found.
According to the local CBS affiliate WVLT, the alleged victim’s Ford Expedition is also missing. The car was found shortly after the police issued an alert for it, along with Coffman, an unnamed woman, and the missing child.
According to the police report, Coffman allegedly told them that his mother had called him from jail and told him to pick up the child from the Mercer Street home. Police said Coffman’s mother and the alleged victim were the child’s legal guardians.
Coffman reportedly stated that he and the woman took an Uber to the home, where he engaged in a physical altercation with the man who lived there.
Coffman allegedly confessed to the police that “slammed the victim into the ground, struck him in the face multiple times with his fists, struck [the victim] with a toilet plunger and stuffed this plunger into the victim’s mouth.”
He also allegedly admitted to “dragging the victim into the bathroom, stripping him naked, and pouring bleach on the victim’s wounds,” according to the report.
According to the police report, Coffman admitted to stealing the alleged victim’s vehicle, but claimed he had permission from the child’s mother to do so.
Police reportedly contacted Coffman’s mother, who stated that she had not spoken with Coffman. She also allegedly stated that she “did not and would not” allow him to take custody of the child or steal the alleged victim’s vehicle.
The report included statements from an unnamed woman who said she accompanied Coffman to the alleged victim’s home.
She told police that she walked inside the house and discovered the man on the floor. Coffman then reportedly handed her the child, and the three departed in the Ford Expedition.
She reportedly told police that she overheard Coffman on the phone discussing the alleged fight and “didn’t know if the victim was alive or dead.”
The alleged victim was transported to a nearby hospital. According to the report, he suffered a subdural hematoma as well as other serious injuries. Police were unable to speak with him.
Coffman was booked into Knox County Jail on Monday. His bond hearing was scheduled for Friday.
