A Columbus man already facing kidnapping and battery charges from a brutal 2023 barn beating has now been arrested alongside a woman on allegations they tried to improperly influence a witness in the case, just days before his jury trial is set to begin. Zablin “Jai” Woodruff and Tracy Smith are being held at the Bartholomew County Jail on a 48-hour hold without bond.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests, alleging that Woodruff and Smith attempted to tamper with a witness connected to the long-running case, according to Fox 59. Woodruff now faces additional charges of obstruction of justice, bribery and invasion of privacy, on top of kidnapping, aggravated battery and other felony counts he already faced in two related cases. Smith faces preliminary charges of obstruction of justice and resisting law enforcement. Woodruff had been out on bond while those earlier charges were pending.
A Night That Ended in an Abandoned Barn
The underlying case dates back to the early morning of June 3, 2023, when a 19-year-old Columbus man told police he had been driven to an abandoned barn and beaten severely once inside, according to WTHR. The victim said he had agreed to meet Emily Franklin that evening to get food, but instead of stopping anywhere to eat, Franklin drove him to an abandoned barn on the east side of the county, per WISH-TV.
Once there, masked individuals pulled the victim from the vehicle. A probable-cause affidavit described how Woodruff and Charles Breedlove dragged the victim into the barn, where three additional masked people were waiting inside, as reported by The Republic. Breedlove, Ashton Fields and Woodruff were later identified as the masked suspects who emerged from the barn.
Beaten, Cut and Threatened With a Gun
Court documents describe the group assaulting the victim with a knife, scissors, a handgun and a caustic liquid thrown into his eyes and face. The attackers reportedly cut him with a knife, cut his hair with scissors, tried to cut his neck with the same scissors, beat him with a stick, and whipped him with a pistol, according to a local account published by White River Broadcasting. At one point, a suspect reportedly told the victim, “These are your last minutes on earth,” while pointing a firearm at his head.
The masked attackers eventually left the victim in the barn. He suffered dried blood on the right side of his face, a swollen and bleeding lip, facial lacerations and a neck contusion, and he later needed 18 sutures for bilateral nasal bone fractures, according to Fox 59's earlier reporting on the case. He managed to walk to a nearby neighborhood, where a resident helped him, the station reported. Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office deputies were then dispatched to Columbus Regional Hospital at approximately 2:50 a.m. to assist the victim, per the same account.
Arrests, a Guilty Plea and a Pending Trial
Breedlove, Fields and Franklin were arrested before Woodruff turned himself in at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office at approximately 9:45 a.m. on June 16, 2023, The Republic reported. The sheriff’s office said on Facebook at the time that all suspects in the incident were in custody. Woodruff’s bond was later reduced from an original $750,000 surety or $75,000 cash to $250,000 surety or $25,000 cash, with a no-contact condition involving the victim and his co-defendants, the paper also reported.
Breedlove ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of robbery resulting in bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years on probation. Fields pleaded guilty to assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony, and was sentenced to four years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with 397 days of jail credit and two years suspended. Franklin is scheduled to learn her sentence on November 18.
Woodruff, meanwhile, is scheduled to appear in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 for the start of his jury trial on Monday, according to Fox 59's report on the new arrests. The timing of his and Smith's arrest on witness tampering allegations comes just days before that trial is set to begin.
