A 27-year-old Lyndhurst man pleaded guilty Friday to five felony charges related to the abduction and strangulation of his ex-girlfriend that led to a police chase to Henrico County.
Joshua Wayne Snider had been calling and texting his ex-girlfriend constantly since they broke up in October 2013, Williamsburg-James City County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua DeFord told Circuit Court Judge Michael McGinty during Snider’s trial Friday.
When his ex-girlfriend ignored his repeated calls and texts, Snider went to her apartment in the Midlands neighborhood of James City County.
DeFord said when the woman walked into her apartment around 9 p.m. Nov. 15, she noticed a strip of duct tape sticking to the door frame. She then left her apartment and saw a suspicious figure in the parking lot. She called her aunt and went back to her car, DeFord said.
Snider approached her, asking her why she was not answering his calls or texts. She responded she did not have anything to say to him, DeFord told the court.
He said Snider proceeded to pull her into the apartment, where she saw his jacket laying on the couch, a drink in the sink and a roll of duct tape, indicating Snider was in the apartment before she got home.
DeFord said Snider grabbed her around the neck and began choking her, lowering her to the ground and saying he knew how to “put people out” with a chokehold thanks to his time as a bouncer. He then asked her to go upstairs and talk, but she refused.
DeFord presented four photographs of the woman to the court and described what appeared to be red freckles on her face from blood vessels popping. He told the court vessels in her eyes had also burst. When Snider loosened his grip around her neck and lowered her to the ground, she texted a family member telling that person to call the police.
Snider then allowed her to get up and she asked to go to the bathroom, DeFord said. She attempted to run past Snider and escape through the front door, but Snider slammed the door with her hand still in it, causing her fingers to swell and bruise.
Snider then grabbed her and slammed her onto a table, DeFord said. He told the court Snider offered her an alcoholic drink, then heard her phone vibrate and took it away from her. He read the text and said because the police were coming, it was “time for plan B.”
He proceeded to take her outside through the front door, but she was able to get away from him and lock him outside, DeFord said. He described how Snider began kicking the front door violently, causing the building to shake and cracking the wood on the door.
After a few failed attempts at breaking down the front door, Snider appeared at the sliding glass door in his ex-girlfriend’s backyard. He ran into her apartment, grabbed her and tried to put her in his 1992 blue Dodge Dakota pickup truck, but the woman punched him in the head and ran to a neighbor’s house for help.
DeFord said had the woman testified in court, she would have said hitting him in the head and running away may have represented her last opportunity to escape.
Snider then took her phone and drove off. When police officers arrived, they went upstairs and discovered a duffel bag containing ropes, belts, sex toys, duct tape and sleeping pills, DeFord said.
Police spotted a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot in the Croaker Commuter Lot off Interstate 64 at the intersection of Croaker Road and Rochambeau Drive the next day matching the description of Snider’s truck. When police approached the vehicle, they saw Snider had reclined his seat. When Snider saw the police, he sped off, “peeling out of the parking lot” at a high rate of speed, DeFord said.
Police were able to catch Snider in Henrico County by laying spike strips on the road to deflate his tires.
He has been held in Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail since Oct. 16. He entered a plea agreement Friday, pleading guilty to strangulation, grand larceny, abduction, burglary, and eluding police, all felonies. A misdemeanor charge of assault and battery was dropped.
Snider faces a maximum punishment of 60 years in prison and a $12,900 fine. He will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Oct. 1.
Related Coverage:
