WHEN: Tuesday, July 1, 2008WHERE: 833 Meadowland Drive, Apt. J, North Naples
ARRESTED: Denis L. Merz, 58, P.O. Box 112033, Naples
CHARGES: Felony battery by strangulation, kidnap-false imprisonment, felony battery prior conviction, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with great bodily harm, assault on a deputy, and violation of an injunction for protection.
SUMMARY: Deputies say Merz choked a 53-year-old woman who had a restraining order against him, beat her, bound her to a chair and told her she was going to die.
Arrest reports gave this account:
Debra Mamula told deputies that she arrived at her apartment on Meadowland Drive around 7:30 p.m. to gather some personal belongings so that she could stay over a friend’s house when Merz rode up on a yellow bicycle and entered the garage behind her.
Merz closed the garage door and grabbed her by the hair, telling her that “she was going to die tonight,” arrest reports said. Mamula has an injunction for protection against Merz, according to reports.
Merz dragged her by the hair to the bedroom where he slapped and punched her in the face multiple times, telling her, “You never gave me a chance.” He kicked her in the spine and punched her in the right ear, ripping an earring from her ear lobe.
Merz then took a white shirt and wrapped it around Mamula’s neck until she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, Merz was still hitting her. She convinced him to take her to the kitchen for some water.
In the kitchen Merz cut a towel with a knife, using the cut pieces to tie her left wrist to a chair. He bound her right arm to the chair with duct tape.
Merz then dragged Mamula, bound to the chair, into the garage. He tipped the chair over, causing her to hit her face on the ground, and again threatened to kill her. Mamula pleaded with him to let her go. He unbound her and left her apartment.
Mamula also left her apartment and contacted a friend, who called deputies. While Mamula was talking to deputies Merz called her cell phone from inside her apartment.
When deputies arrived at Mamula’s apartment Merz ran out the back door and jumped over a fence. He resisted deputies’ orders to stop and came at one deputy with closed fists. He was arrested and taken to the Collier County jail.
