MITCHELL – On Friday, May 31, just after 9:00 a.m., a woman called Central Dispatch to report her female neighbor ran to her home covered in blood. The woman told the caller her partner had a firearm and had hurt her badly. The caller said the woman had been beaten with a crowbar and had held her against her will.
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department Deputies Travis Atchinson, Corey Housel, Sgt. Anthony Pope and responded to the home in the 7000 block of State Road 60 West.
The man accused of hurting the woman was 32-year-old Devin Luchauer.
Police then learned Luchauer had multiple knives in his possession and a firearm.
Police spoke to the injured woman, who told police, “he keeps beating me up.” The woman had blood on her and brushing and swelling to her right eye. Her eye was nearly swollen shut.
She told police that Luchauer had left the home on foot and was headed toward Mitchell, but she wasn’t sure if he had returned to his house.
She reported she and Luchauer were driving back from her home on US 50 West when her car broke down at Old State Road 60 West and Thompson Lane. She and Luchauer walked to Luchauer’s home. She said, “That is when everything started.”
According to the police report, she stated that Luchauer refused to allow her to leave and beat her with “anything he could get a hold of.” She went on to say he beat her with his fists, a gun, a crowbar, swords, and anything in his house.”
The woman said Luchauer told her, “If the cops come, I’m killing you before I got out.”
Sgt. Pope and Officer Atchison went to Luchauer’s home to see if he returned to his home. He was not there.
An IU LifeLine ambulance crew and Marin Township Volunteer Fire Department first responders arrived to treat the injured woman. The woman was transported by ambulance to IU Health Bedford Hospital for treatment. The woman suffered numerous large bruises, lacerations, scratches, scraps and cuts.
Luchauer’s dog was running loose and animal control was contacted to pick it up.
Police found the woman’s vehicle, which she reported had broken down.
Officer Bailey Duprey arrived to assist in the investigation. A search warrant was requested for Luchauer’s home.
Officer Housel went to IU Health to speak to the female victim. She told police she and Luchauer had gone to her house to feed her dogs, and when they were returning to Luchauer’s home around midnight, her car broke down. They grabbed some items from her car and walked to Luchauer’s home. But when they arrived at Luchauer’s home, he “became a different person and began wailing on her and beating her.” She said she was sitting on the couch when Luchauer put his hands around her neck, choked her, and pulled her off the couch. She said Luchauer began hitting her with anything he could find. He hit her with a small ax, cutting her legs. He shot her with a BB gun in the neck, legs, and ankles. He then choked her a second time. She passed out and woke on the kitchen floor. She attempted to get away, and Luchauer would block her path.
Luchauer then sat beside her and said, “he was done.” But soon began beating her again, saying, “‘I don’t give a (explicative), and this is what you get.'”
He then tied her up with a charging cord, put her in a back room, and kept asking where his handgun that he kept under the coffee table was. He found the gun and hit her with it on the right side of the head near her eye. He then hit her in the head behind her ear with the BB gun. He told her he was not going “to leave her alive.” He said,”‘If they show up (police), I’m killing you before I go.”
Luchauer noticed his missing phone and thought he left it in the woman’s vehicle. He made the woman walk with him back to her car to find the phone, but they couldn’t find it. Luchauer told the woman he didn’t want the police to find his phone. They then returned to Luchauer’s home but stayed in the woods near the railroad tracks so no one would see them. He had his hands on her the whole walk so she couldn’t run away and had his gun with him. When they got back to the house, Luchauer told her to tie herself up and placed her in the back room. Luchauer threatened to throw the ax at her if she moved.
Luchauer told her to get her jacket, clean herself up, and get all the blood off her. He then put her in the bathroom. He then pushed her out the front door without her shoes. She told police she said a prayer and took off running. Luchauer chased her as she ran to the neighbor’s house. Luchauer stopped at the top of the neighbor’s driveway.
Police armed with a search warrant searched Luchauer’s home and found the crowbar.
Due to Luchauer not being found, the hospital worked with police to find the woman a safe place to stay once discharged.
Later that day, Luchauer surrendered at the Sheriff’s Department. He was arrested on charges of aggravated battery resulting in serious injury, criminal confinement with a deadly weapon, domestic battery with a deadly weapon, intimidation with a deadly weapon, strangulation.
