Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Detective Jeff Baker takes the oath before testifying in Judge Don Poole's courtroom Monday. Baker told the court that Shannon Ory was stalking the victim in his upcoming trial.A man free on bond while awaiting trial on charges that he beat and tried to kidnap his ex-wife then later tried to hire someone to kill her is now wanted by police on charges he stalked the woman.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston called a local detective to the witness stand Monday for testimony that would help revoke Shannon Ory's bond before his scheduled Nov. 29 trial.
Hamilton County Sheriff's Detective Jeff Baker testified that Francis Ory, 41, Shannon's ex-wife, called him Friday from Davidson County and said Shannon Ory was waiting for her outside her workplace.
Shannon, 43, followed his ex-wife into the building where she hid from him in a locked office.
"[She] walked out of the building, saw Ory standing there, and retreated back into the building," Baker testified. "He went inside, she locked herself in an office and called 911."
Cellphone trace
Baker traced Ory's movements that evening with assistance from a cellphone company. Tracking technology showed that Ory drove through Hixson and then to the Trenton, Ga., Days Inn.
When police arrived at the motel, Ory had left.
Francis told police that a few days before the workplace incident her two children came into her Davidson County home and told her that their father, Shannon, had followed them on a motorcycle as they rode bicycles in the neighborhood.
She dismissed the children's stories, believing that Shannon did not know where she lived, Baker testified.
Judge Don Poole revoked Shannon's $250,000 bond on charges of identity theft, attempted first-degree murder, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping and solicitation to commit murder.
Shannon had appeared with his attorney, Chris Helton, on Oct. 31 for a final pretrial hearing concerning those charges. Prosecutors had offered Shannon a plea deal prior to his Nov. 29 trial. The deadline was Nov. 4, the same day his ex-wife said he came to her workplace.
As detailed in court documents, this is what Francis told police happened on Dec. 16, 2009:
Attack in driveway
As she pulled out of the driveway of her Old Hunter Road home on her way to work she saw that trash cans were in the middle of the driveway, according to court documents.
When she got out of the car to move the trash cans, a man came out of nearby woods, wearing dark clothing, a mask and gloves and attacked her.
The man hit her on the face several times and then pushed her under her vehicle. He then got into the driver's seat and tried to run over her.
She got out from under the car. The attacker shoved her back underneath three times before forcing her into the back seat of the car and driving away.
She escaped the car and ran into a ditch. The attacker left the car and ran down the road.
The assault broke Francis' noses and her left eye socket.
She told police she knew it was Shannon.
Police went to Shannon's 6700 Flag Crest Drive home where they found a wet long-sleeved black shirt with blood on it and a black, open-faced hood in a bag with other clothing.
Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies arrested Shannon Ory on charges of attempted first-degree murder and attempted especially aggravated kidnapping.
The solicitation to commit murder charge came a few months later.
On April 4, 2010, Hamilton County Jail inmate Billy Joseph Bryant told jailers Ory had approached him and offered him $10,000 to "have something done" to Francis Ory, saying he had beaten her in December with brass knuckles and the only way he was going to keep from going to prison was if she could not testify.
Bryant said he knew Shannon because he had smoked crack cocaine with Shannon when the man came by a dope house in East Lake to pick up prostitutes in 2007 and 2008.
Free on bond
Court records show that Shannon Ory was released on the $250,000 bond in June 2010. Often bonding companies charge 10 percent of the bond to an inmate, but some local bond companies have charged as low as 3 percent, Chattanooga Times Free Press archives show.
Baker said Shannon has a Texas state identification with a Galveston, Texas, address, but police believe he is living in LaPlace, La., near his birthplace of Lutcher, La.
Davidson County authorities charged Shannon with stalking in the alleged Nov. 4 incident. Texas authorities charged him with forgery on April 13.
Contact staff writer Todd South at 423-757-6347 or tsouth@timesfreepress.com.