Man charged with kidnapping, assault in Cape Girardeau

Updated: January 13, 2025, 9:40 PM

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., (KBSI) — A 26-year-old Cape Girardeau man has been charged with multiple felonies after allegedly forcing his way into a victim’s apartment and assaulting her.

Ce’One Tidwell was taken into custody on Jan. 11, 2025, after officers responded to a disturbance call in the 2000 block of North Sprigg Street.

According to police, Tidwell forced entry into the victim’s apartment, began strangling her and threatened to kill her if she called police. The victim escaped to an adjacent apartment, where Tidwell continued to assault her. The individuals in that apartment called 911.

Tidwell faces a number of felony charges including kidnapping, burglary, domestic assault, and harassment in a addition to a misdemeanor charge for property damage. He is being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond.

Tidwell is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Cape Girardeau Police Department’s public information officer Bobby Newton said their officers regularly respond to

domestic violence incidents.

“We respond to multiple domestic violence calls every day,” he said, “but typically it’s not to this level.”

Newton wants people to know there are resources for those who may be in a potentially unhealthy domestic situation.

For more information, we reached out to Safe House of Southeast Missouri Executive Director Jessica Hill. She said there many ways they can help people in domestic violence situations.

“If they have immediate medical needs, we want to help make sure that those are addressed right away,” Hill said. “Whether they need to go to the emergency room, or see some kind of a doctor, we want to help make that happen and then we want to make sure that they’re very safe.”

She wants anyone in trouble to know — the safe house is there.

“Our shelter is in a secure, confidential location,” Hill said. “We have police escorts to make sure that people can get to our shelter safely.”

We also talked to self defense instructor Alan Williams from Outerlimits Martial Arts to learn about ways a person can protect themselves if they’re being attacked.

“Ways to get away — obviously if she’s really strong or much bigger than me, trying to just knock her arms off or knock her arms down may not even happen or be a possibility,” he said.

Williams demonstration can be seen in the video clip. He says to focus on getting away.

“This isn’t a Chuck Norris movie. You don’t stay here and continue to fight. Your intent is to escape and to get away from the situation,” he said.

According to Williams, there are many basic techniques to protect yourself, depending on the severity of the situation.

“If it feels like it’s a life or death situation, sometimes hitting the throat or something even more aggressive — if you know that, hey, my life’s on line here. I’ve got to do something fast,” he said.

Williams recommends everyone learn self defense in order to protect themselves.

For more information on:

Safehouse of Southeast Missouri, click here.

Outerlimits Martial Arts, click here.