A Blue River man facing a first-degree murder charge following a shooting in Blue River has another active case against him.

Daniel J. DeVito, 46, was arrested on five criminal charges — assault in the first degree, menacing with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, criminal mischief and domestic violence — the night of Monday, July 7, according to court records. The five criminal charges are reportedly “unrelated” to the shooting of Jordan Elizabeth Labarre, 32, of Breckenridge, on Monday, July 7, according to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation news release.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday, July 9, obtained probable cause to arrest DeVito on a preliminary first-degree murder charge, according to a news release issued by the agency. 

District Attorney Heidi McCollum, the top prosecutor for the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said at a hearing for the murder case that the unrelated case involved “violent” and “coercive” control of a woman.

A woman, whose name will not be released, reported an assault that occurred July 4 to authorities days after it originally happened, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. It states the woman did not make the report initially out of fear DeVito would retaliate.

The woman went to DeVito’s residence the night of July 3, and in the early morning of July 4, DeVito grabbed her, forced her into the bathroom and held her there against her will, according to the affidavit. The document states the woman claimed DeVito stood outside the door and told her if she came out, he would “blow her head off.”

Knowing DeVito had guns in his house, the woman stated she believed his threat to be credible. While DeVito forced her into the bathroom, he hit the woman in the eye, the affidavit states. The officer who wrote the affidavit noted they could see the woman had a black eye while they interviewed her.

The woman stated DeVito also told her another man would kill her if she did not answer questions, according to the affidavit. She told police DeVito provided her a pen and paper to write down her answers.

Eventually DeVito let the woman out of the bathroom, and the affidavit states another man arrived at the home. DeVito allegedly gave the man a gun and continued asking the woman “unusual questions,” according to the affidavit. 

The woman told police DeVito did not like her answers, and the two men zip tied her to a swing in DeVito’s kitchen, according to the affidavit. DeVito used a switch blade knife to cut the woman across the chest while she was restrained. 

The woman reportedly received a cut that was about 13 inches long, showing her stitches to the officer who wrote the affidavit. She screamed, cried and believed she was going to die while DeVito cut her, according to court records.

After releasing her from the swing, the men reportedly duct taped a white towel to her chest. The woman claimed to officers that her pants were blood soaked and she changed into clothes she had in her car. The men dropped her off in Breckenridge, and from there she took an Uber to the hospital.

The men told her to tell hospital staff she fell on a saw, the affidavit states, so she reportedly did as she was told. The affidavit also states that the woman said DeVito had taken her phone, microwaved it and put it in a pan of water to make sure it did not work.

Judge Reed Owens set DeVito’s cash bond at $2.5 million on July 10 in connection to the murder case, and DeVito is scheduled to appear in court for both active cases in late July.