Formal charges were filed Thursday against a Farmington man suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Durango woman who was largely incapacitated because of her level of alcohol intoxication.
Terrell Hardy, 38, faces counts of second-degree kidnapping and sexual assault, felonies, after he allegedly met a woman at a Durango bar, invited her to a hotel room in town and then instead started driving to New Mexico with her before sexually assaulting her in his vehicle.
Hardy was released Aug. 3 from the La Plata County Jail on $50,000 bail and appeared Thursday in a 6th Judicial District courtroom where his defense attorney requested more time to review information submitted to discovery.
Charges filed against Hardy say he “seized and carried” the woman he is accused of kidnapping on July 22 and “inflicted sexual intrusion or sexual penetration” on her during the encounter.
Durango police previously told The Durango Herald that Hardy met the woman at a Durango bar and invited her back to his room at the DoubleTree Hotel. But according to an arrest affidavit, investigators confirmed he did not have a room booked at the hotel. Instead of going to the hotel, he stopped at the Speedway gas station across the street. After getting gas, Hardy drove onto U.S. Highway 160 and headed west out of town.
When the woman asked where he was taking her, Hardy said they were going to his home in Farmington, according to the affidavit.
The woman repeatedly told Hardy she did not want to go with him and she asked to be dropped off. Hardy became upset she did not want to go with him, and the woman seemed to remember him hitting the steering wheel or dashboard, according to the affidavit. Hardy finally turned around and headed back toward Durango. The woman told police she remembers tilting her head back in the passenger seat and trying not to pass out.
The woman told police she messaged a friend to tell that person she was being taken against her will. The friend activated a device-tracking feature that allowed the friend to trace the woman and Hardy to a Best Western Durango Inn at 21382 Highway 160.
In the motel parking lot, Hardy allegedly began touching the woman in places she was uncomfortable with. She told Hardy multiple times she did not consent to the interactions, according to the affidavit.
The woman said the last thing she remembers is trying to retrieve her ID and phone before blacking out. Sometime later, the woman “snapped out of it.” She said she woke up in the back seat of the SUV with Hardy grunting on top of her.
The woman’s friend found Hardy’s vehicle in the Best Western Durango Inn parking lot and tapped on the window, said Detective Mike Kelly, with the Durango Police Department.
The friend found Hardy’s vehicle and began knocking on the window to find out what was going on, he said.
“They pulled her out of the car. There was some argument. He was resistant to letting her leave,” Kelly said.
But Hardy eventually drove away.
After notifying police, the woman participated in a SANE exam, which is done to collect forensic evidence after an alleged sexual assault.
Kelly said earlier in August that Hardy may have been involved in “one or two other incidents” the weekend of July 22-24. He was also in town several weeks before that weekend, he said.
“We have concern that there could be other people who may have interacted with him in a negative way,” he said. “… It seems like he is targeting people extremely intoxicated who are in some way being separated from their group of friends.”
He asked potential victims to call 375-4738.
cburney@durangoherald.com
