An Illinois resident faces several charges following an alleged attack on his girlfriend during a drive through Moultrie County last month.

Thomas Andrew Welch, 31, was initially accused of aggravated domestic battery, aggravated unlawful restraint, and aggravated kidnapping stemming from an early morning incident last Thursday. However, the state’s attorney’s office dismissed the unlawful restraint charge and instead filed an attempted murder charge, according to a report by WCIA.

The local sheriff’s office responded to an incident just before 1 a.m. after a homeowner reported that a woman, covered in blood, had sought help at his Kirksville residence. While on their way to the location, deputies were informed that the woman had leapt out of a moving vehicle.

The woman, who sustained a noticeable forehead injury, recounted to the deputy that she had been traveling with Welch, her boyfriend, and his acquaintance, 33-year-old Cody R. Kimery. Feeling increasingly unsafe despite her repeated requests to exit the vehicle, she eventually decided to jump from the truck while it was moving at approximately 20 miles per hour.

After being transported to the hospital for medical attention, deputies located Welch’s Chevrolet truck, impounded it, and secured a search warrant for further investigation.

The search warrant uncovered a dash camera in the truck, and audio and video from the camera showed the victim’s attempt to get out while the truck was stopped only to be pulled back inside.

An affidavit says that the incident began just before midnight on December 30. The victim, sitting in the passenger seat, got into a verbal altercation with Welch, and repeatedly asked him to take her home. The altercation escalated, with Welch yelling at the victim and making threats to harm and kill her.

At one point, the victim tried to get out of the truck only to have Welch drag her back inside from his seat and then walk around to the passenger side and shove her back in. That was the incident in which she received the injury to her head. Kimery, the statement said, participated in the efforts to keep her inside.

Police located the victim’s pink scarf at the intersection where that incident took place, and it contained suspected blood and a clump of hair.

Welch got back in the vehicle and continued driving, as the victim repeatedly begged to be let out of the vehicle. At one point, the affidavit says, he told Kimery, “I’m going to have to kill her bro.”

Welch continued driving and was about an hour and a half away from the victim’s home when she jumped out of the moving truck.

At the hospital, she was given staples and stitches for the cut to her head. Doctors said the cut exposed her skull and will result in permanent scarring. She also had bruising to her neck consistent with being choked and swelling to her cheek.

Welch was arrested on Sunday and ordered held without bond the following day. A preliminary hearing is set for Friday.

Kimery was charged with unlawful restraint. He was already in jail, having been arrested in Coles County on Saturday for aggravated battery to a peace officer and possession of methamphetamine. His first court appearance in Moultrie County has not been scheduled.

Welch has a steady stream of arrests dating back to 2008 and including six stints in jail on charges including drugs, burglary, resisting, domestic battery, and aggravated battery.