Former Eureka Springs parks and recreation director Justin Huss is scheduled to go on trial Monday, March 18, in a Wisconsin circuit court on charges including attempted homicide.
A three-day trial is scheduled in Fond du Lac County, Wis.
Huss, 50, is being held on a $2 million bond in the Fond du Lac County Jail. He has been jailed since October 2023.
The charges against Huss, which include felony counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and strangulation and suffocation and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct, stem from an Oct. 1, 2023, incident when deputies with the Fond du Lac Sheriff’s Department responded to a KOA campground in Forest, Wis., after a call to the county dispatch center at approximately 3:30 a.m.
The alleged victim, who is not identified in the criminal complaint against Huss, told police that her husband, later identified as Huss, was trying to kill her.
A deputy observed dried blood on the woman’s lips and nose as well as a mark on her forehead that appeared to be a smudge of dried blood and drops of what appeared to be dried blood on her face, according to the criminal complaint. The woman told deputies that she and Huss had two children together and been living together in Wisconsin since March 2023.
The woman told deputies that Huss had struck her several times and had choked her and threatened to kill her. She indicated that she had been choked and kneed in the ribs several times and that was it hard for her to breathe.
The woman told deputies that she believed she lost consciousness at some point during the incident. She said that as she made eye contact with Huss shortly after opening her eye, he wrapped his arm around her neck and began suffocating her. The only way she could get Huss to stop was by pretending to lose consciousness, the woman told deputies. When she made her body go limp, she told deputies, Huss relaxed his grip. At that point, the woman bit Huss and when he pulled his arm away, she was able to run outside the residence.
A deputy observed what appeared to be dried blood on the woman’s shirt and pants and her pants were wet. According to the criminal complaint, the woman indicated she had urinated on herself at some point.
The woman was treated at a local hospital, where she was diagnosed with a concussion and soft tissue issue in her neck region as well as bruises.
Eureka Springs attorney Tim Parker, who is representing Huss in a lawsuit against the city over his termination, filed a complaint for divorce on Huss’ behalf on Feb. 14 in Carroll County Circuit Court.
The defendant in the divorce complaint is Lindsey Keck. The complaint says Huss and Keck were married in March 2023 and separated on or about Oct. 1, 2023.
