An Islamorada woman took a page straight out of “Fatal Attraction” by kidnapping her ex-boyfriend’s new live-in girlfriend and taking her to a motel where she threatened her with a knife, according to police.
Laura Diane Bauler, 51, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of felony aggravated assault with a weapon, burglary and kidnapping, and misdemeanor battery, in the Jan. 27 rampage.
During the attack, she threatened the woman with a knife, and by gagging her and tying a rope around her neck, said Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Becky Herrin.
On Jan. 27, Bauler entered the woman’s residence on Parker Drive without permission, while she was in bed at 11:45 p.m. and Bauler forced her out of bed at knifepoint, Herrin said.
Bauler then tied a kitchen towel over her mouth and a rope around her neck, all the time threatening to kill her with the knife, reports stated.
Bauler drove the victim to the Key Lantern and Blue Fin Inn, mile marker 82.1, where she herself was staying, forced the woman into a closet, then later into a bathtub.
“Once in the bathtub, Bauler ordered the victim to take off her clothes,” Herrin wrote in a news release Saturday evening. “Once the victim was nude, Bauler forced her to go outside.
The victim, once outside, began to run away and scream for help but Bauler caught tackled her to the ground.
They were fighting on the ground when a couple who lived next door intervened, Herrin said.
They pulled Bauler off of the victim and took the victim into their residence, while Bauler fled.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene at 1:22 a.m., the victim explained that she is now living with Bauler’s ex-boyfriend and believed that was the motive for the attack.
A warrant was issued for Bauler’s arrest, and Saturday she booked into the county jail on Stock Island and held on $145,000 bond.
The motel, which is next-door to the Blue Fin Inn and advertised as a single inn, bills itself as “one of the lowest priced motels in the Florida Keys and close to everything. Nothing fancy, just clean, friendly and laid back,” according to its website.
Rooms start at $60 a night. Bauler has no arrest history in Monroe County in recent years, according to the sheriff’s office.
Gwen Filosa: @KeyWestGwen
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