A Fort Smith felon with a long history of domestic violence and assaultive behavior in both Sebastian and Sequoyah counties is currently on the run after he beat his pregnant girlfriend and stole her car last Friday, according to information from a Fort Smith Police Department incident report.
Zackary Warford, 27, reportedly beat the woman at a Fort Smith motel, threatened her with a knife, took her phone and then fled the scene in her white 2012 four-door Honda Accord.
As of 4 p.m. on Monday, no warrants had been posted for Warford but the incident report says police will be seeking charges of Aggravated Assault, Domestic Battery With a Sharp Object, and Vehicle Theft.
Police were dispatched to Baptist Health for a battery report on Friday where they took a report from the girlfriend who said Warford had beaten her up and taken her car. The couple were staying at a local motel when Warford became irate and started throwing her around and hitting her" because he thought she had called her mother.
The victim stated Warford forced her into the car and when she tried to get away he pulled a knife, stuck it in her side and threatened to kill her if she tried to run.
She stated they then returned to the motel where Zachary took her phone and started punching her in the head. She was able to get away and make it to a neighboring room's door at the motel but was dragged back into the original room.
Realizing the neighbor's had called for help, Warford got into her car and drove off without her permission.
The officer started the victim was "clearly pregnant" and said the victim said Warford was fully aware that she was "six months along". She stated Warford had repeatedly "threatened and beat her in the past, and that she was worried for the safety of herself and her family."
Warford has a history of violence against women and a record of being uncooperative with the p0lice in the past. He was sentenced to 60 months (as well as having 120 suspended) in prison for similar behavior in 2016 after convictions for Kidnapping and Terroristic Threatening in an incident in which Aggravated Assault, False Imprisonment and Possession of Drug Charges against him were dropped.
He also was convicted of two Counts of Domestic Battery and received another 12 months in prison with an additional 12 month suspended in 2019.
He also had a February 2020 arrest for Terroristic Threatening in the First Degree, Aggravated Assault on a Family or Household Member - Choke, Resisting Arrest, Fugitive from Justice Out of State, and a Petition to Revoke - Felony . Those charges came less than a year after he was released on his previous convictions.
In Oklahoma, there was an arrest for trying to intimidate a police officer in 2014, followed closely by a court ordered protective order against his then-spouse. Later that same year he was charged with two counts of Use of a Vehicle in Discharge of Weapon.
He was also charged with one count of Assault out of Sequoyah County in 2019 for Impersonating an Officer and had a 2020 arrest in the same county for Impersonating an Officer, Eluding. or Attempting to Elude Police Officers and Threatening to Perform Acts pf Violence.
If you have information on Warford' s whereabouts you are asked to call the Fort Smith Police Department at 479-709-5000.
