James Savage: Marion County kidnapping suspect claims he saw ‘demons’ during 22-hour standoff
By Greg Fox
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MARION COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — WESH 2 Investigates is learning more about the man accused of kidnapping a woman and holding police at bay inside a home in the Villages.
According to newly obtained documents, James Savage said he was seeing “demons” when he went into a rage.
“They told me I was going to be able to talk with these reporters,” James Savage told a deputy as he was being placed in a patrol car in Marion County on March 16. He had just been captured and was seen and heard from an in-car security camera.
Savage mostly mumbled to himself as he waited for the trip to the jail booking facility to face numerous charges.
Armed and at times firing shots, he refused, for nearly 24 hours, to come out of a home in the Villages while neighbors waited and watched the show of force from swat teams.
The prior day, March 15, Savage was recorded on security cameras at a Sumter County home, brutally beating and kidnapping a woman with whom he had previously been in a relationship. Eventually, Savage surrendered.
WESH 2 Investigates is not identifying the woman.
Newly filed case paperwork shows the state is charging Savage with felonies, including two counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement officers and firing a gun that, as a convicted felon, he had no right to carry.
The home belongs to Lorraine Heroux, who told WESH 2 Investigates that Savage used to be a friend.
“Yeah, he used to be. Today, I say no,” Heroux said.
Heroux found her place in a shambles and, according to documents filed with the court, later told detectives that Savage “told her he was not coming out and that he would shoot law enforcement or himself before going back to jail.”
Savage was convicted in 2002 in U.S. District Court in North Carolina and spent more than 17 years in federal prison for swindling millions of dollars from nearly a dozen women.
Detectives also say during the standoff, the “defendant, (Savage) made threats to blow up the house” and at one point stated he had “demons that have taken over and are causing issues in his life.”
Savage’s mental state will likely be debated as he faces trial.
Just last August, prosecutors in Marion County dropped charges of stalking and extortion involving the woman who was attacked and detained by Savage on March 15 because prosecutors say the woman did not cooperate with the investigation.
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