Prosecutor refuses to drop case against man who allegedly threatened to kill, cook his wife

ELWOOD, Ind. -- A prosecutor refused a woman's request that he drop attempted murder charges against her husband, who she and police said beat her in front of their infant son and threatened to cut up her body and cook it.\nDon Shepard, 30, of Elwood was being held on $100,000 cash bond Tuesday in the Madison County Jail in Anderson. He also was charged with aggravated battery and several misdemeanors.\nAn emergency room doctor said Shepard's wife, Keely Shepard, had burst blood vessels in her face caused by severe choking and near asphyxiation, bleeding on her brain and bruising and swelling to the face and buttocks.\n"This was a very severe beating with a lady left in a sad state of health," Madison County Criminal Magistrate Stephen Clase told Don Shepard in court. "This was vicious. You are a danger to this lady if these facts are true and Madison County residents as well."\nKeely Shepard downplayed the attack and her injuries in an interview with The (Anderson) Herald Bulletin on Monday night and said she wanted her husband to go to counseling, not jail. Prosecutor Rodney Cummings declined her request to dismiss charges.\nShe said her husband had blacked out after drinking about eight beers.\n"He's an upstanding, good father. When people black out from alcohol, they can do things that are not their personality," she said.\nPolice went to the couple's home about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis when the woman called 911 on Sunday night and reported her husband had tried to kill her and threatened to kill their children. Police found her and her three children huddled in the backyard under a blanket when they arrived. They found the man inside in bed and arrested him after a struggle.\nAccording to court documents, Don Shepard allegedly began beating his wife while saying he was going to kill her after she woke him up by yelling at him. Police said he tried to break the woman's neck and threatened to cut her up and fry her body parts on the stove.\nTheir 7-month-old son was in the crib nearby, and he allegedly told her he wanted to make sure she heard the baby screaming before she died.\nKeely Shepard said her injuries were not as bad as described, but she confirmed that her husband had threatened to cook her.\n"He did punch me 20 to 30 times, but he didn't break anything," she said. "He did say he would kill me and the kids and then himself"