GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A man accused of fatally stabbing a woman he dated, as well as injuring at least one of her two young children, told his cousin he planned to “make her pay and be on the run.”
Jacob Alec Ryan, 29, was arrested in Toledo, Ohio several hours after the woman, 25-year-old Ciara Paul, was found dead late Sept. 16 in her Rockford area residence.
According to a probable cause affidavit in court records, Ryan allegedly admitted to detectives that he caused the injuries to Ciara Paul. He refused to talk to them about the childrens’ injuries, which police described as “significant cuts to the neck requiring medical procedures.”
A judge set a $2 million bond at Ryan’s arraignment Monday, Sept. 20 in 63rd District Court. He is charged with open murder and one count of attempted murder.
According to the affidavit, Ryan called a cousin about 12:30 p.m. Sept. 15 and apparently was angry.
“Jacob told (him) that Ciara had left him at the food court and he was going to make her pay and be on the run,” a detective wrote.
Related: 25-year-old woman found stabbed to death, with two injured children, in home near Rockford
The cousin told detectives that Ryan allegedly has some issues with “angry outbursts.”
Kent County sheriff’s deputies went to Paul’s apartment in the 7000 block of Cannon Place Drive NE about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16 for a welfare check. The check happened after a woman was in a Facetime call with Ryan and the video showed he had bloody hands that looked “stabbed up.”
Deputies, upon arriving at Paul’s apartment, looked through a window and saw a large amount of blood. They entered the residence and found Paul in a living room, dead with stab wounds.
They then found the two children, a 2-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl, in the home. The condition of the children Monday was not immediately known.
Court records show Ryan’s permanent address as Blackshear, Georgia.
When he was arrested in Toledo, police found he had “significant cuts on his hands and blood on much of his luggage and belongings.”
During the Facetime call that prompted the welfare check, Ryan allegedly told the woman he came back t her residence to find her deceased. He told the woman the kids were missing.
He also told the woman he panicked and was headed to Georgia.
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