MAn Ties Wife To a Chair For Bizarre Reason

Police car blue siren light flashing — Photo: klauscook / Shutterstock

Police say a Richmond husband taped his wife to a basement chair so he could watch football upstairs, and now he faces abduction charges.

Story Snapshot

Richmond police arrested Terry Ward, 64, after a domestic call late Sunday night.
The criminal complaint cites the wife’s statement that Ward tied her to a chair with tape.
Reports say Ward admitted restraining his wife; detention lasted about 30 to 45 minutes.
Virginia’s abduction law centers on unlawful detention that deprives a person’s liberty.

What Police Say Happened In That House

Richmond officers responded to a domestic disturbance at a home late Sunday. The criminal complaint records the wife’s account that her husband, Terry Ward, tied or taped her to a chair in the basement. She told police he left her there while he watched football upstairs. Local reporting states Ward admitted restraining her when questioned. Officers arrested Ward and booked him on felony abduction and misdemeanor assault on a family member, according to reports that cite the complaint.

The reported timeline is tight. Police arrived around late evening, found the wife safe enough to speak, and documented her version on scene. Coverage drawing from the complaint puts the restraint at roughly 30 to 45 minutes before officers intervened. One report adds that a stated reason for the detention was to watch a football game without interruption, a detail that both shocks and clarifies motive at a basic level: control and quiet over consent and safety.

Why Abduction, Not Just Assault, Is On The Table

Virginia law makes abduction broader than many assume. The statute says a person commits abduction by force, intimidation, or deception when they detain another to deprive that person of liberty, without legal excuse. No transport across town is needed. No ransom note is required. The act of detention itself, when done to take away freedom of movement, can meet the definition set by the Code of Virginia § 18.2-47 (Virginia Law).

Appeals decisions in Virginia have also drawn a clean line: restraint that is separate and not just a small part of another crime can be charged as abduction. Courts have held that depriving liberty by force alone may be enough to support abduction when the facts show an intentional detention. Taping someone to a chair for dozens of minutes appears distinct from a fleeting scuffle and fits the detention concept the courts describe.

What Prosecutors Must Prove And How A Jury May See It

Prosecutors will aim to show intentional detention without consent and without legal excuse. The criminal complaint, along with any photo evidence, tape residue, injuries, or body camera recordings, could support those elements. The wife’s statement anchors the core facts. Any remarks by Ward that confirm restraint, even if he claims it was brief or for a personal reason like a game, may still support intent to deprive liberty under the statute if the force and confinement are clear.

A jury does not need to like football or hate it to see this as simple: you cannot tie your spouse to a chair because you want quiet time. American conservative values prize personal responsibility and the right to be secure in one’s home. That includes freedom from unlawful restraint. If the complaint’s account holds, the case aligns with common sense boundaries that keep order: your liberty ends where someone else’s begins.

How This Case Fits A Larger Pattern Of Control

Domestic abuse cases often hinge on control, not just bruises. Restraint, isolation, and blocking movement are red flags. They turn homes into traps. The reported fact pattern here is unusual, but the core theme is common in these cases: one person decides the other’s choices do not matter. Virginia’s abduction law exists to stop exactly that. It treats forced detention by itself as a serious wrong, even when it happens inside a marriage and even when it lasts under an hour.