WINSLOW (KFSM) — A mother whose child became the subject of an Amber Alert told police she was beaten and threatened for nearly three hours by the man who allegedly kidnapped her baby.
An arrest warrant affidavit filed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Danny Trent Barrows details the events that led up to the alleged abduction of 2-month-old Ivy Barrows, for whom an Amber Alert was sent out early Tuesday.
Ivy was later taken by a third party to Barrows’ mother’s home and was safe.
Barrows was captured Wednesday (Aug. 15) on an Interstate 49 bridge near Chester after being on the run from police for nearly two days.
He is currently in the Washington County Detention Center on $250,000 bond. He is facing two counts of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree domestic battery and one count each of terroristic threatening and parole violation.
According to the affidavit, the mother of Ivy Barrows was brought to a gas station after being picked up on the side of the road by a passerby. She had been cut or stabbed in the leg, the affidavit said.
The woman told investigators Barrows was her daughter’s biological father but had no custodial rights due to his drug use, the mother told investigators.
The mother said Barrows threatened her and her daughter with a knife, and police noted a small cut on the woman’s neck, the affidavit said.
Barrows made the woman drive several back roads throughout Washington County and kept making her turn around, so she was unsure where she was.
The woman said that during the hours-long drive through towns such as Elkins, Goshen, Fayetteville and then to Winslow, Barrows would beat the woman in the head with his fists.
She said he made her stop at bridges and told her he would kill her and leave her under the bridge, then he would force her to start driving again, according to the affidavit.
Barrows finally made her stop the car near Whitehouse Road and U.S. 71 and told her to get out and walk into the ditch where there were bushes so he could kill her.
She refused, so he threatened to kill the child by holding a knife to it, the affidavit said. She said she exited the vehicle, then tried to run around and grab her daughter out of the back.
She told police that as she was reaching for the child, Barrows cut the back of her leg with the knife. Believing he would continue slashing her, she fled, she said.
She was picked up on the side of the road by a passerby. Barrows attempted to bust the car window as the vehicle pulled away but was unsuccessful, she said.
The passerby took the woman to a nearby gas station, where police and Central EMS were summoned. Barrows reportedly drove off in the woman’s car with the child inside. An Amber Alert was issued for the baby early Tuesday (Aug. 14) morning, and she was recovered at her grandmother’s house later that day.
The mother was taken to the hospital, where she was treated and released. She was reunited with her daughter on Tuesday.
Barrows was on the run after relinquishing his daughter, and the U.S. Marshals Service said he agreed to turn himself in Wednesday (Aug. 15).
When officers arrived to meet Barrows in West Fork, he forced a companion from a truck and sped off, according to the marshal’s office.
The pursuit was discontinued due to the poor weather conditions, but several agencies helped apprehend Barrows in Chester a few hours later.
“Someone called in a motorist that was passing by, saw the gentleman that we were looking for,” said Mountainburg Police Chief Vincent Clamser.
“When the first trooper got there the suspect attempted to jump off the bridge,” Clamser said.
Authorities found Barrows hanging from the bridge over Arkansas 282 near Chester about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday and were able to pull him back onto the pavement, according to the U.S. Marshal’s office.
Washington County, Crawford County, Arkansas State Police, Mountainburg Police, U.S. Marshals, state Highway Patrol and Game and Fish were all involved in the pursuit and capture.
