Missoula Police Arrest Man For Strangling, Restraining Woman After Muffled 911 Call
911 contacted Missoula police just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday, after someone at a residence on East Broadway made multiple attempts to call for help, but then hung up the phone. According to Police Public Information Officer Travis Welsh, the residence in question has had issues with domestic abuse in the past, so police went out to investigate.
"They knocked on the door and received no answer," Welsh said. "However, a neighbor came out and said there was a couple who lived in this particular apartment and that they had been fighting for the past three days. At one point officers reported that they could hear a male voice inside the apartment, but they still received no response to their loud knocking and identifying themselves as police."
Police could hear a man inside and decided to make entry, where they found a man and a woman. The woman reported she had been held against her will.
"37-year-old Elijah Bagaoisan was eventually arrested for the charges of partner or family member assault, strangulation, unlawful restraint and a charge of tampering with a communication device for grabbing the phone away from the victim when she was attempting to make one of the 911 calls. She at one point made an attempt to go to the front door to let the officers in, but Bagaoisan restrained her and would not allow her to cry out that she was inside."
Bagaoisan is facing a felony charge for strangulation, the rest of the charges are misdemeanors. According to Welsh, the 911 call operator who notified police was concerned after they had heard a muffled shuffling sound before the call was canceled.