WABASH CO.—It appears a Mt. Carmel man charged with Aggravated Unlawful Restraint and Domestic Battery in the wake of a recent highly publicized hostage situation in Mt. Carmel was the target of the girlfriend more than a week prior.
At approximately 4 p.m. November 24, at a trailer in an alleyway by Swifty’s, located at W. 4th Street and N. Walnut Street in Mt. Carmel, Kelly D. Hannah, 39 and Christopher Blake Cash, 33, of 4075 West 4th Street, both from Mt. Carmel are said to have gotten into a domestic dispute when Cash proposed to Hannah.
Hannah was reported to have said ‘no’ which made Cash highly upset.
Authorities say Mr. Cash shoved Ms. Hannah and then was reported to have locked Hannah out of the house, leaving four children inside the house with Cash.
It was reported the older two of the children went out the back door of the trailer with the other two younger children, both around the age of one, being left inside.
Authorities say that while using a deadly weapon, identified as a knife, Cash detained both of the younger children.
15:1 for 16 hours
Called to the scene were Mt. Carmel police, Wabash County officers, State Police and a S.W.A.T (Special Weapons and Tactics) team.
At one point a total of 15 police vehicles could be seen surrounding the trailer area.
Officers tried talking to Cash over a microphone asking that he “answer his phone.”
Twice throughout the hostage situation the S.W.A.T team went to the back door of the trailer and knocked on the door, but there was no reply from Cash.
After an over 16 hour-long ordeal, at approximately 10:30-11 a.m. Nov. 25, Cash gave himself up.
Mr. Cash’s criminal history gives no indication that anything as extreme as a SWAT team would ever be called on him: he was convicted in December 2011 of Domestic Battery for which he was sentenced to six months jail, one year probation and ordered to pay $997 in fines and fees of which he still owes $877.
Regardless, it happened, and Cash was taken into custody and held in the county jail on $3,000 cash bond.
Throughout the ordeal and afterwards, there was no indication Cash ever mentioned anything about hurting anybody including the children.
Cash is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 26.
This would normally be the point where a case such as this begins to work its way through the court system.
Case began more than a week earlier
However, as these things occur, the case appears to actually have had its beginnings more than a week prior to the standoff with police.
It seems that Mr. Cash’s mother, Holly L. Cowling, obtained an Emergency Order of Protection against Ms. Hannah on Nov. 14.
In the text of her complaint Ms. Cowling said that on Nov. 12, Ms. Hannah had gotten into a fight with her son at the trailer they had both been living in with at least two children they have together.
“He left and went to his father’s and spent the night,” Cowling said. “Kelly Hannah called all night and texted me, Randy Batterton and Brandy Keele until 5 a.m. and kept everyone awake.”
Cowling said the next morning Hannah came to her house at 7 a.m. but was told she could not come in and then refused to leave until police were called and she was told to leave and not come back.
“She kept going by the house for about an hour,” Cowling said. “She has two children with my son and was using them to try and get him to come home.”
Cowling said she was advised by officers to seek an order of protection to at least keep Hannah off her property.