Cookeville Man Charged After Threatening Woman With Knife

A Cookeville man was arrested Sunday for allegedly threatening a woman with a knife.

Cookeville Police charged 30-year-old Preston Walker with aggravated kidnapping and theft of property following an incident that occurred early Thursday morning.

Arrest warrants state police received a call from Walker’s ex-girlfriend who had escaped Walker when he threatened to harm her and himself.

The woman told police that Walker entered her bedroom earlier that night and confronted her about “suspected infidelity.” Walker allegedly got on top of the woman with a knife, made stabbing motions with the blade, and covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream.

Warrants indicate Walker also caused her lip to bleed and shoved her against the wall. The woman eventually convinced Walker into driving him to the store for cigarettes, where Walker threatened to kill her and others at the store if she escaped.

The woman eventually escaped once Walker left the vehicle and called police from the Mapco gas station along North Willow Avenue.

The arresting officer was able to contact Walker by phone, who stole a cell phone from his ex-girlfriend’s friend and told the officer he was hiding in a wooded area nearby. Police arrested Walker and booked him into the Putnam County Jail Sunday, where he remains on $25,500 bond.

Walker’s initial court date is scheduled for April 29.