A Middletown police officer on patrol about 3:10 p.m. saw a man leave a house in the 3800 block of Central. As the officer passed, he heard the man call out “hey,” and he stopped.
Joshua Speaks said he and his roommate were in a disturbance, according to the police report. Risner, 42, was found upstairs semi-conscious with facial injuries. She was transported to Atrium Medical Center for treatment of serious injuries. She was then taken to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where she remained on Thursday.
Speaks, 32, was charged with felonious assault and booked into the Middletown City Jail. His bond was set at $100,000 Monday during arraignment in Middletown Municipal Court. A preliminary hearing is set for Monday.
Risner suffered a crushed orbital eye socket and a brain bleed, Detective Brook McDonald said in the court complaint. Detectives were able to talk to her briefly.
“Sarah stated that the defendant beat her with an object and she tried to protect herself with a knife,” McDonald said in court records. Speaks told the detective Risner “charged him with a knife.”
According to detectives, Speaks had no injuries.
Maj. Scott Reeve said Risner had taken in Speaks, who was homeless, as a favor to a friend. When she wanted him to leahe “became upset, and it became physical.”
A GoFundMe account has been established for Risner by a friend who remembered her as kind-hearted.
“As an act of kindness Sarah opened her home to someone that was in a time of need. Sarah is the type of person to give the shirt off her back to help someone in need, or give you a job to help you on your feet,” said Shanna Lynn, organizer of the fundraiser.
“Sarah has been very active in the Middletown and surrounding communities, helping multiple nonprofits as well as volunteering her time and resources for those those in need. She is facing along road to recovery.”
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