A Henderson County man was arrested on May 22 after he was accused of attacking a runner at Bent Creek Experimental Forest, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Matt Marshall said, according to the Citizen Times. The suspect has been identified as Dillon James Curtis.
Who is Dillon James Curtis?
Curtis is 29 years old from Etowah. He was arrested by Henderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies and charged with assault In women, communication threatenillegal detention, interference with emergency communications and other acts. All are misdemeanor charges.
Curtis was arrested on a sworn warrant for 27-year-old Asheville content creator Emily Sutherland. Sutherland, an avid hiker and runner, claimed Curtis followed her in a car on May 21 and then attacked her while she was running in a popular recreation area in the Pisgah National Forest.
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On May 23, Henderson County transferred Curtis to the custody of Sheriff Buncombe. Marshall told Citizen Times. Curtis remains in the Buncombe County Jail on a $5,000 bond, the outlet reported.
“It looked like he was looking for a parking spot,” Sutherland told the Citizen-Times on May 22. “He ended up parking next to the Laurel Creek Trail. I saw him walking and running toward me. At first I thought it was someone trying to warn me about a bear.”
“Every time he came near me, he started yelling at me and then going to hit me. I backed away. I asked, ‘What’s your problem?’ He started calling me other girls’ names. He started screaming at me. It wasn’t super coherent. He came toward me again. I backed away again,” she recalled.
Sutherland then called 911.
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“He told me he was going to knock me out and drag me into the woods. That’s when I started screaming as loud as I could for help,” she said. “For about three or four minutes, I was screaming. He was just threatening me and jumping on me.”
Sutherland was eventually rescued by two mountain bikers who identified themselves as Trevor and Harvest. They came in a pickup truck and walked her back to the car.
Sutherland wrote about her experience on social media. People online recognized Curtis, who has some unique tattoos, including the number “828” on his torso.
