CHARLESTON, W.Va. —A Charleston man was arrested Monday evening just hours after he allegedly beat a woman on the city’s West Side and stabbed her with a screwdriver when she refused to give him money.
Charleston Police took Jerry Smith, 39, into custody after an incident at Home Pro Realty on Virginia Street West on Monday afternoon. He was charged with malicious wounding and robbery.
Investigators said Smith had been loitering around the business in recent days and the victim, identified as Elizabeth Whitley, had been trying to help him.
When he asked for money Monday and Whitley refused, police said Smith got angry and hit the woman several times. After trying to take rings from her fingers and necklaces from around her neck, he allegedly attempted to choke the woman before grabbing a screwdriver and stabbing her under the chin and in the hand.
On Monday evening, the victim was in serious condition at CAMC General Hospital.