SANDY Utah (ABC 4 News) – A University of Utah administrator is jailed for nearly killing a woman.
Lonnie Norton who is the director of College of Computing at the Department of Humanities is now sitting in the Salt Lake County jail.
“He took her from the house, he used duct tape to cover her mouth had and threatened her with the gun," says Sgt. Jon Arnold of the Sandy police department.
Sunday morning, there was a 911 call to the dispatch but the caller hung up.
“We have a large problem here throughout the valley with 911 hang up calls,” says Arnold.
Police went into a general neighborhood in Sandy but left without finding the right home.
Little did they know footprints in the snow were allegedly made by Norton.
Arnold says he broke into the home and took her away. Police say using a gun he took her to his college office.
“In the building he sexually assaulted her, physically assaulted her with the gun and threatened to kill her and commit suicide," says Arnold.
But Norton brings her back to Sandy and backs off the murder suicide. Police say he made one last plea.
“He tries to convince her to remain in the relationship,” says Arnold.
But after he left, she calls 911 and this time gets with police. He’s later arrested.
“This is brutal, taking her at gunpoint, duct taping her (and) committing the actions that he did,” says Arnold.
A spokesman at the University of Utah refused to comment saying they will wait for the police to finish their investigation before taking any action.
