Alpena Co. Man Charged for Child Abuse, Assaulting Ex-Girlfriend

"We have no idea," Undersherifff Terry King said. "Just the mental stability that he may or may not have."

The Alpena County Sheriff’s Office is trying to piece together a violent attack and they’re familiar with their suspect.

Duwain Buchler was already in the Alpena County Jail on child abuse charges stemming from a case in November.

Alpena Police say a one-year-old ended up at the Mid-Michigan Medical Center then with a fractured right arm and several face and head injuries.

Buchler’s now accused of more violent crimes against his ex-girlfriend in a car on US-23 in Ossineke and then at a house on the Alcona County line.

9 & 10’s Blayke Roznowski and photojournalist Noah Jurik have more details on both cases and resources available to victims of these kinds of crimes.

It all started with child abuse charges in Alpena, but then a friend of Duwain Buchler’s ex-girlfriend called police saying he assaulted his ex-girlfriend in a car, then proceeded to drive her to Hubert Rd. and then things escalated from there. 

"Drove his ex to a residence on the county line and then proceeded to assault her, hold a knife to her throat and the proceeded to pour kerosene over her and threatened to set her on fire and then locked her in a shed," Undersherif King said. 

It’s a shocking description of events and deputies say their suspect is the same man police brought in that day for serious child abuse charges.

Officers in Alpena say the ex-girlfriend’s one-year-old ended up in the hospital in November with a broken arm and head injuries.  

Now, in addition to the child abuse, Duwain Buchler is faces a list of serious charges including assault by strangulation, unlawful imprisonment and assault with a dangerous weapon.

"This is extremely serious," Undersheriff King said. "This isn’t something you see on a regular basis. Domestic assault, sure, but to the extreme of bringing great bodily harm is not something you see."

Both child and domestic abuse brings trauma to the victim’s lives. 

Advocates at Hope Shores Alliance say the effects can last a lifetime.

"That’s a traumatic point in their life," Hope Shores Alliance outreach and services/legal advocate Jeanine Kaltz said. "Possibly the worst time of their life."

The organization tries to be a safe space for survivors, but they say it’s something anyone can do.

"If you create a safe enough space, people will open up and let you know what’s going on in their lives," Kaltz said.

Buchler will be back in court for both cases in the next couple of weeks.