Hoke sheriff: Man carjacked, kidnapped, assaulted woman, child

Sarah Ellis, of Fayetteville, called 911 Friday night to report that her boyfriend, Michael Todd Walker, 43, was assaulting her, authorities said. Ellis, Walker and a 7-year-old granddaughter were in a vehicle on the side of Aberdeen Road when the assault happened, according to sheriff's officials.

A passing driver from Murrells Inlet, S.C., stopped to see if they needed help, not knowing it was a domestic problem and not a traffic issue, authorities said.

Walker then punched the woman in the face several times, held her at knife-point and stole her car, bringing her and the 7-year-old with him, according to authorities.

He drove them to a remote location off U.S. Highway 401 where he assaulted the woman again, severely beating and choking her until she lost consciousness, and left her in the woods, sheriff's officials said. The woman regained consciousness and crawled to the McDougal Downs subdivision, where a resident called 911.

Sheriff's deputies found the woman and rendered aid until paramedics could arrive.

Meanwhile, Walker assaulted the 7-year-old again and drove her to an unoccupied house off Carolina Drive, which he broke into by throwing the child through a window. He held the child hostage inside for two hours.

The sheriff's emergency response team and a hostage negotiator came to the house, but Walker "became increasingly hostile toward law enforcement," said Sheriff Hubert Peterkin, who authorized authorities to go into the house and get the child.

Walker used the girl as a shield, holding a knife to her and threatening her life as law enforcement approached, sheriff's officials said. Within seconds, authorities disarmed Walker, arrested him and got the girl to safety, Peterkin said. She was taken to hospital, but had been released by Wednesday.

Peterkin would not comment on a possible motive, but said there's no explanation for that type of savage attack.

"You've got some mean people out there," he said. "He just did whatever he thought he could do. He took an innocent person and beat her. Why would you do that?"

Walker was charged with two counts each of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, second-degree forcible sex offense, first-degree forcible sex offense on a child and indecent liberties with a child, three counts of kidnapping and one count each of armed robbery, second-degree burglary, abduction of children, assault on a female and assault on a child under 12. He was being held without bond.

Walker has spent 10 of the past two decades behind bars and was convicted of manslaughter in 1995, according to state Department of Correction records. He was most recently convicted in 2003 as a habitual felon and of burglary and was in prison until December 2009.