Man Arrested for Strangling Woman – Violating No Contact Order

23 year-old Connor Collins is in the Missoula County Jail charged with felony strangulation, partner or family member assault and numerous violations of an order of protection, after allegedly punching and strangling a woman on March 9^th.

Court records indicate that Collins entered the victim’s home without permission and struck her in the face 10 times. He then grabbed her by the neck and strangled her for over 10 seconds.

Deputy Missoula County Attorney Ryan Mickelson asked Judge Alex Beal that Collins be held on $75,000 bail.

"The defendant is alleged to have broken into his ex-girlfriend’s house, and when she arrived home, he beat and strangled her,” said Mickelson. “When she attempted to contact law enforcement, he smashed her phone and then fled the scene. He then entered a stranger’s garage and took clothing and a bicycle. He was later spotted by law enforcement. He then entered another stranger’s home in an effort to evade law enforcement.”

The charges continued to mount up after Collins was taken to the Missoula County Jail.

“After his arrest, he attempted to contact the victim multiple times from the detention center in an effort to get her to drop the charges. It should be noted that there will be other charges filed for a similar incident that happened approximately one month ago, and those should be filed sometime today.”

Mickelson said Collins has shown no respect for court orders when it comes to his ex girlfriend.

“This has been a continual behavior pattern, and he also shows a pattern of meth use,” he said.

When law enforcement arrived at the second home they used a K-9 officer to track Collins to yet another residence where he was arrested after officers were forced to use a taser on him.

Judge Beal ordered Collins directly to pretrial supervision, however, because of the numerous violations of the order of protection, for the safety of the victim he set bail at $75,000.

Collins must appear again on March 25.