Bail has been set at $500,000 for a man accused of assaulting a woman and threatening to kill her with a knife at a Centralia residence on Thursday.
Officers with the Centralia Police Department were dispatched to the residence in the 200 block of West Oakview Avenue just after 2:05 p.m. on March 30, according to call logs.
According to the alleged victim, the defendant, Zachary Howard Bynum, 51, of Randle, was fixing a door at the residence when “Bynum became frustrated with the door and began to argue with her.”
The argument escalated into assault when Bynum allegedly “pushed (the victim) onto the bed and got on top of her,” then “placed both hands over her mouth and nose, preventing her from breathing,” according to court documents. The victim reported running toward the door as soon as Bynum got off of her, but Bynum allegedly “caught her, pushed her to the floor and dragged her across the floor by her sweatshirt.” He then allegedly “grabbed a knife” and told the victim to walk back to the bedroom. When she complied, he allegedly “held the knife within an inch of her face and stated he was going to kill her,” according to court documents.
In relaying the incident to law enforcement, the victim “stated she as scared she wouldn’t make it out of the bedroom” and said “she tried to be nice to Bynum to calm him down, which worked as eventually, she was able to run out of the house to a neighbor’s (house), where she called 911.”
Bynum reportedly had the victim’s phone, preventing her from calling 911 inside the residence, according to court documents.
Officers who spoke with the alleged victim observed “abrasions to her hands, scratches to her neck and a cut on the inside of her upper lip” as well as a bloody nose. Blood was also found on a pillowcase on the bed inside the house, which the victim said she was strangled on.
While searching the house, officers found “a knife that had been stuck into the floor in the middle of the hallway” but did not find the knife the victim claimed she was assaulted with.
The officers who made contact with Bynum on Thursday described him as being “amped up and animated,” according to court documents. He was arrested without incident, according to court documents, and was booked into the Lewis County Jail just after 2:50 p.m.
Officers reportedly found a baggie containing suspected methamphetamine and two cellphones on Bynum’s person when he was arrested, according to court documents. Law enforcement confirmed one of the two cellphones belonged to the alleged victim.
At the time of Bynum’s arrest on Thursday, he was serving probation as part of a sentence for an unrelated 2013 kidnapping and assault case where Bynum kidnapped a woman while wielding a machete.
He was sentenced in 2016 following a three-year delay caused by mental health competency issues, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
Bynum was allegedly in violation of his community custody at the time of his arrest on Thursday, as the state Department of Corrections reported “he has been unreachable” since Feb. 19, 2023, according to court documents.
Bynum was charged Friday, March 31, with one count each of second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and felony harassment — each with domestic violence enhancements — as well as one count each of failure to comply with community custody and violation of the uniform controlled substances act.
In addition to setting Bynum’s bail at $500,000 on Friday, Judge J. Andrew Toynbee approved a no-contact order protecting the alleged victim.
Bynum reportedly has no intention of posting bail, according to his defense attorney, who said Friday, “He really has nowhere else to go.”
Bynum’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for Thursday, April 6.
