Texan Is Accused of Keeping His Wife Chained, Padlocked

SAN ANTONIO —  A man was arrested after his wife was found with a 25-foot chain padlocked around her neck, police said Friday.

Jerry Wayne Thomason, 41, was arrested Thursday. A witness had contacted police, saying she noticed the chain around Patricia Thomason’s neck as the couple dropped off their two sons, ages 11 and 14, at school. Police said the witness asked Jerry Thomason about the chain, and he jerked it and said that he used it so that his wife couldn’t run off.

Officer Kenny Hagen said police went to the Thomason home and found the 45-year-old woman in her driveway, her face bruised and the chain still around her neck. Her husband was asleep in a car in the driveway, he said.

“She had a really tough time talking,” Hagen said. “She was distraught, kind of like beat down, almost like you had accepted your fate in life.”

The chain was wrapped around her neck twice and held in place with a padlock, and she was holding the rest of it in her arms, police said. Firefighters used bolt cutters to get it off, and the woman was treated at a hospital and released.

Thomason was charged with aggravated assault and unlawful restraint.

Thomason, who had told police he loved his wife and wanted to take care of her, was being held in Bexar County Jail. Police said it was unclear how long the woman had been wearing the chain or whether it was ever used to tie her to something.