Laura Steele

Name:
Steele, Laura J

Date of Booking:
02/06/2025

Reason(s) For Booking:
False Imprisonment

Aggravated Assault (Family Violence)

Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]

On 02/04/2025 at 13:19, I, Officer Hennebaul, was dispatched to a meet in person call at [100 BLOCK] Huntleigh Ct. The meet was in regards to a prior domestic incident that had occurred 02/02/2025 between the owner of the property and the basement tenant.

Upon arrival, I met with Officer Goodwin, who had already made contact with the occupants of the house. Officer Goodwin provided the name and date of birth of the suspect, Laura Steele, who was not currently at the residence. Officer Goodwin summarized the incident as the basement tenant, Laura Steele cornering the homeowner in the upstairs kitchen of the home and choking the homeowner, [REDACTED BY AGENCY], with both hands wrapped around the her throat.

Officer Goodwin also handed me pictures taken by the victim, [REDACTED BY AGENCY], following the incident. Officer Goodwin then explained the suspect, Laura Steele, was a retired Law Enforcement Officer.

I met with [REDACTED BY AGENCY] inside the house where she gave her statement to what had occurred. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated she had not communicated with Laura for a couple days following a separate verbal argument the two had about living spaces. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated that Laura had reached out to her via text due to law enforcement being in the neighborhood. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated she responded to the text and asked why Laura was suddenly reaching out to her.

[REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated right before the physical altercation, she was cleaning out a drawer in the upstairs’ fridge by the sink. The sink in the upstairs kitchen is situated next to a corner where the cabinets of each wall meet. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated she was holding the glass bottom of the fridge door throughout the entire altercation. At about 20:25 on 02/02/25, [REDACTED BY AGENCY] explained she was facing away from the basement stairs, so [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated when she heard Laura running up the stairs and entering the kitchen she did not initially turn to face Laura.

According to [REDACTED BY AGENCY], Laura walked to [REDACTED BY AGENCY] side and began yelling. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] then faced Laura and told her “she needed to go back downstairs” [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated Laura began walking towards her while yelling.

[REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated she was backed up into the corner to the left of the kitchen sink. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated she pushed Laura back with one of her hands in an attempt to separate herself, but this did not work. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] explained Laura then wrapped her hands around [REDACTED BY AGENCY] throat. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] explained because she was still holding the glass bottom of the fridge drawer and she was backed so far into the corner, she was unable to get away from Laura.

[REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated Laura let go of her throat and she repeated to tell Laura that “she needed to go back downstairs”. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated Laura grabbed her throat again, but harder. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated that “everything went fuzzy” then Laura released her throat and left. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] then photographed the kitchen and her neck at 20:34, following the incident.

[REDACTED BY AGENCY] showed us she took the pictures on her phone and showed us where they were time-stamped to show how long after the incident the photographs were taken. When asked if she thought she could leave when Laura cornered her in the kitchen, [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated no.

When asked if she had had any contact with Laura since 02/02/2025, [REDACTED BY AGENCY] stated no. [REDACTED BY AGENCY] also stated that she was going to go through the process of evicting Laura from the basement and stated she had already notified Laura.

The following warrants were obtained for Laura Steele:
2025-0358FW Aggravated Assault – Family Violence
2025-0357FW False Imprisonment

Both warrants were signed by Judge Durden.

[End of Narrative]