Ohio man accused of kidnapping woman and 6-year-old, beating female who escaped in Erie

Erie police officers who responded to a disturbance call on Arlington Road on the early morning of Oct. 13, 2021, encountered a woman on the porch of a residence.

The woman had two black eyes and other visible injuries, and she was clutching a knife, according to city police reports.

The woman eventually dropped the knife and was taken into custody. Police learned from the woman that she and her 6-year-old child had been taken from Ohio and held against their will for several days by a man who repeatedly beat her as they drove around parts of New York and Erie County and who threatened to kill her, according to information in case documents.

The man was snorting methamphetamine and smoking marijuana during the incident, she told investigators.

Erie police identified and charged the suspect, Matthew A. Pavlisin, a day after officers encountered the woman.

Pavlisin was brought back to Erie on Thursday afternoon to face charges in the case.

Pavlisin, 35, of Conneaut, Ohio, was placed in the Erie County Prison on $250,000 bond after Erie 1st Ward District Judge Sue Mack arraigned him on felony counts of kidnapping to inflict injury or terror, kidnapping of a minor and aggravated assault; and on misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Pavlisin was brought back to Erie on Thursday from the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio, according to Erie police arrest records. It was unknown Friday if Pavlisin had been in custody in Ohio on the Erie arrest warrant or on charges in another case.

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A fateful trip from Ohio

According to information that Erie police detectives outlined in Pavlisin's criminal complaint, he and the woman and the 6-year-old left a residence in Conneaut, Ohio, on Oct. 9, 2021.

The complaint does not explain the relationship between Pavlisin, the woman and the child.

At some point that day, someone turned off the location service on the woman's cell phone, detectives wrote in the complaint.

The woman told investigators that, between Oct. 9 and Oct. 12, Pavlisin held the woman and the child hostage. She said Pavlisin hit her in the face repeatedly and struck her in the head with a large flashlight as they drove around Niagara Falls and the Buffalo area, according to information in the complaint.

The woman said Pavlisin forced her to drive around and avoid the police while he slept for a few hours, and she remembered staying at a Red Roof Inn during the trip. She also stated that Pavilisin was snorting methamphetamine and smoking marijuana, detectives wrote in the complaint.

On Oct. 12, New York State Police stopped their vehicle on Interstate 90 in Chautauqua County. The woman said she told the state police trooper that she was having seizures, causing the injury to her face, according to the complaint.

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Arrival in Erie

Investigators wrote that after the traffic stop, Pavlisin became enraged and started beating the woman again while claiming that she was an FBI agent. The group turned off Interstate 90 and eventually arrived at the Sheetz near Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Summit Township, where the woman said Pavlisin beat her, grabbed her by the hair, pounded her head off the interior of the car and bit her. She said they fled the Sheetz when a bystander threatened to call the police, according to information in the complaint.

The group drove into Erie, where the woman said Pavlisin beat her again and snorted more methamphetamine. She said Pavlisin crashed the car, causing it to be inoperable, in an area that Erie police identified as the 300 block of Arlington Road, detectives wrote in the complaint.

The woman told police that Pavlisin bit her on the face, hit her with a bucket and threatened to kill her and the child. She said she saw him pouring something on the car and he threatened to burn the car with her and the child in it, according to information in the complaint.

The woman said she put her foot in the open door and honked the horn while the vehicle was disabled in order to escape, according to the complaint.

The woman's injuries included substantial bruising to her face, arms, midsection and legs, injuries to her legs and two black eyes. A large amount of her hair appeared to have been pulled from the back of her head, and hair was found throughout the car, according to information in Pavilisin's criminal complaint and information provided by police on Friday.

Pavlisin is tentatively scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary hearing on Feb. 24, according to information in his online court docket sheet.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Ohio man arraigned in 2021 kidnapping, assault that ended in Erie