A Gary man is facing multiple felonies after beating a woman so badly, she lost her pregnancy when she was four months along, an affidavit shows.
Cortez Morehead, 26, is charged with feticide, aggravated battery, criminal confinement, domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old, intimidation, auto theft, and misdemeanor resisting law enforcement.
He is in custody, held on a $125,000 or $12,500 cash bond.
Gary Police Det. James Nielsen wrote he responded July 29 to the 1000 block of Van Buren Street. The apartment was in “disarray” with pieces of hair in the hallway.
The woman said her four kids were home when she and Morehead got into an argument. She went to her bedroom. When she refused to leave, he threatened to punch her in the face, charges show.
Morehead was the unborn child’s father.
After she called the police, he drove off in her vehicle. When officers arrived, they told her to lock her door as they looked for Morehead.
The woman told officers that at some point, Morehead came back and brutally attacked her, including punching her in the face and stomach and dragging her back inside.
She managed to run out again to get help from a neighbor.
Nielsen wrote she had hair missing, a swollen eye, and her hips and back were scraped.
Ring videos confirmed the woman’s account.
Nielsen wrote that Cpl. Joseph VonBank was searching for the woman’s missing car “when he noticed it was back at the residence.”
He tried to talk with Morehead, who ignored him and ran from the officers.
They found him “in a small room off the (back) of the complex hiding in a hole in the floor.”
At the Gary Police Station, Morehead said he beat her in June 2024 and downplayed his role that day, claiming she was “crazy” and would hurt herself.
Court records show he had a prior Chicago domestic battery arrest and an outstanding warrant for a domestic battery case in Lake County, Indiana with the same woman.
A Gary Police spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for clarification if Morehead returned to the apartment and beat her as police were looking for him.
