ARCHER, Fla. – Cynthia Lee Correll, 74, was arrested on domestic battery charges after an approximately two-hour standoff with Alachua County sheriff’s deputies.
Deputies were called around 6:45 p.m. September 26 to the 16000 block of SW CR 346 after a witness reported an argument between Correll and her husband. According to the witness, the couple went into the shed where they lived, and he heard Correll repeatedly say she was going to kill her husband.
The husband reportedly told deputies that he and Correll had been arguing before he went into the shed and lay on the bed. He said Correll approached him with a knife, pressed it against his shoulder and threatened to kill him if he did not leave. He also alleged that Correll struck him several times in the chest with her free hand. He then went to the main house and told the witness what had occurred.
Deputies could not immediately enter the shed because it was surrounded by a fence containing two large dogs that were considered potentially aggressive. Officers used a loudspeaker to order Correll outside. She eventually emerged, but after being told she was under arrest, she allegedly returned to the shed. A deputy then reportedly spoke with her by phone for two hours as she refused to come out. During the call, Correll allegedly acknowledged arguing with her husband and said she wanted to hurt him, but claimed she had not done so.
Correll came outside again at one point, and deputies used unspecified tactics in an effort to take her into custody. She allegedly retreated into the shed once more. During the standoff, she reportedly cut her own wrist with a knife. After roughly two hours, Correll finally exited the shed and was arrested.
After being read her Miranda rights, Correll reportedly said she had argued with her husband but had not hurt him “this time.” She said she wanted him to leave because she feared she would hurt him. Correll denied striking him, possessing a knife or threatening to kill him.
Investigators searching the shed reportedly found a bloody knife that Correll had used to cut herself.
Correll was transported to a hospital for medical clearance before being booked into jail.
She faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, domestic battery and resisting an officer without violence. Correll has no prior criminal history. Judge George Wright ordered her held without bail pending a hearing on a State Attorney’s Office motion seeking to keep her jailed without bail through trial. If that motion is denied, bail will be set at the hearing.