By Zoe Greszler
Norwalk Reflector
BELLEVUE, Ohio — A Bellevue man was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill his wife by setting her bed on fire while her children and her boyfriend were nearby.
The Bellevue police went to 224 Gunther St. at 3:12 p.m. Thursday after a woman called them, saying she believed Andrew J. Howard’s estranged wife is in danger.
The caller said Howard, 26, of 314 Northwest St., Bellevue, told her “he is going to set her bed on ›re, then tell her that the kids are better without her and that they won’t see a thing,” the police report said.
The friend said she then called Howard’s wife to ask if she was OK, and the wife said no and hung up the phone. She later told police she could hear Howard yelling in the background.
When Sgt. Todd Trego arrived on the scene, he said he could hear the couple arguing from the foyer of the apartment building before knocking.
After the victim answered the door, she and Trego stepped outside, where she told the of›cer she and Howard were separated but that he had been staying at her house for a few weeks.
She said they were arguing and Howard told her if she brings anyone around he doesn’t like, he would kill her and that a friend told her Howard threatened to “kill her and burn the house down.” When asked, the victim said she wanted to ›le charges and was told how to get a temporary protection order.
The victim then told Trego she had her two children in the house and another child she was babysitting. Trego noticed another man inside, whom Howard’s wife identi›ed as her boyfriend.
Howard has been arrested on domestic violence charges on two previous occasions, police said.
Howard told Trego he was “just blowing off steam to a friend” and “didn’t threaten her in that way (to kill her).” He said he did threaten her, but not physically. He said he only threatened to have the children taken away “because her boyfriend has her hooked on drugs,” Trego’s report said.
The wife’s boyfriend had been outside with the children at the time of the argument and said he heard Howard “screaming in her face” and threatening her but could not specify what he heard.
Howard was arrested for domestic violence, a second-degree misdemeanor due to a prior conviction of the charge. He was taken to the Huron County Jail and later released.
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