Man arrested after woman found bleeding on the floor with fractured skull
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BLACKFOOT — Deputies arrested a Blackfoot man earlier this month after finding a woman bleeding on the floor with a fractured skull.
Ellis Clay Higbee, 32, is charged with felony domestic battery inflicting traumatic injury following an incident that occurred June 15. According to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, the victim was seriously injured as a result of Higbee’s actions.
The Blackfoot Police Department was called to the house where Higbee and the victim lived. Another woman living in the home told officers the victim was in the basement in bad shape. The woman told officers that Higbee had told her that he and the victim had got into a scuffle and the victim fell off the bed.
Police went downstairs to find the victim facedown on the floor with a large amount of blood coming from her left ear and nose. The victim’s left eye was also swollen shut and she was vomiting.
Paramedics rushed the woman to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. While at the hospital, medical staff indicated the woman had a fracture to the left side of her head. While at the hospital, the woman told investigators she remembered Higbee holding her hand over her mouth but nothing after that, including the ride to the hospital, according to court documents.
When officers had arrived, Higbee had already left the home. The other woman inside the home told officers Higbee may be suicidal and had left with a machete. Higbee was eventually found on the roof of the home’s garage.
He was taken into custody. Court records do not indicate if Higbee told police anything after they took him into custody.
Higbee made his initial court appearance on Wednesday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 1 at the Bingham County Courthouse.
He remains held in the Bingham County Jail on $50,000 bail.
Although Higbee is accused of a crime it does not necessarily mean he committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
If convicted of felony domestic battery a judge could order Higbee to spend up to 10-years in prison.
This new charge is not the first time Higbee has been accused of a violent crime. Court records show in 2016 Higbee was convicted of felony aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury. He has also been convicted of drug charges in the past.