Minnesota Man Indicted for Kidnapping His Estranged Wife

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MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court, a 40-year-old man from Virginia, Minnesota, was indicted for kidnapping and assaulting his estranged wife. The indictment charges Timothy Glen Caskey with one count of kidnapping and one count of interstate domestic violence. The indictment alleges that on July 14, 2011, Caskey kidnapped his wife and took her from Minnesota to Texas and also briefly into Mexico. The indictment further alleges that on July 14, Caskey assaulted his wife, causing her serious bodily injury.

According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, on July 14, 2011, Timothy Caskey forcibly abducted his wife off the street in Virginia, Minnesota. Reportedly, she was walking with a friend and others when Caskey approached in a pickup truck. He allegedly jumped out of the truck, grabbed the woman, and struck two people who tried to assist her. He then shoved her into the truck and fled.

Earlier that morning, Caskey had been released from the Northeast Regional Correctional Center after serving a sentence for violating a restraining order filed by his wife. An active restraining order prohibiting Caskey from having any contact with her remained in place. Several attempts by Caskey to contact his wife by phone after his release from jail were reported to authorities by his wife prior to her abduction.

Two days after the alleged abduction, on July 16, 2011, a man and a woman matching the Caskeys’ descriptions stopped at an auto dealership in New Braunfels, Texas. The man asked to test drive a white pickup truck. He provided the auto dealer with a Minnesota driver’s license in the name of Timothy Caskey. Both the man and the woman then got into the truck, left the lot, never to return. The truck they left behind was registered to Timothy Caskey.

If convicted, Timothy Caskey faces a potential maximum penalty of life in prison on both charges. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge. This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Virginia Police Department, and the New Braunfels Police Department in Texas. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle E. Jones.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.