MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Two people have been arrested after police responded to a report of a man covered in blood in Myrtle Beach this weekend.
Jan Marie Iko, 39, was charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and malicious injury to personal property more than $2,000, less than $10,000. Jeffery Gilbert Lester, 47, was charged with burglary, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.
The report states the pair are currently in a romantic relationship and used to live together.
Officers were called to the Mermaid Inn Saturday around 11:30 a.m. after someone reported a suspicious person that appeared to be bloody. When police found Lester in his room, they observed he had a large cut on his right wrist area and was still bleeding. The report states he also had blood on his chest, stomach and pants and was showing signs that he was impaired. Police also noted that there was a trail of small blood droplets from a white car in the parking lot. The report states a “large amount of blood” was inside the white car.
The man told police he was on North Oak Street when he and Iko began arguing. During the argument, the woman grabbed a roofing hammer, similar to a hatchet, and struck him with the tool. The man says he ran to the white car and tried to leave, but she followed him and continued to try to hit him with the hammer and ended up severely damaging the car. Police confirm that they noticed damage to the driver side front door and a large hole in the body of the car.
When police showed up to the address on North Oak Street, they met with Iko, who told them Lester arrived at her home uninvited and tried to enter the house. She told police the door was locked, so the man punched through a glass window to open the front door.
According to the police report, the woman “feared for her safety” and reached for the roofing hammer and started swinging it at the man. When he retreated to the car, the woman “pursued” him to his car and “became the primary aggressor and continued to swing the roofing hammer” at the man.
The white vehicle was a rental car, and in the police report, the manager at the rental company told Myrtle Beach police they wanted to press charges against the woman for property damage.
Police took both into custody and both were given victim’s assistance, one for being victim of domestic violence, and the other for being victim of burglary.