United Group Insurance

1 Suspect in Thursday’s beating of a Bluffs woman is arrested

News

June 2nd, 2012 by Ric Hanson

One of the suspects wanted in connection with Thursday’s brutal beating of a Council Bluffs woman who was found handcuffed in a pickup truck, has been taken into custody. According to Omaha Television station KETV, members of the Metro area Fugitive Task Force took 38-year old Brian Bey, of Crescent, into custody after shooting him with a Taser. Bey and 32-year old Travis Labno, of Omaha, are accused of kidnapping and beating 29-year Tabitha Proplesch.

Proplesch remained in the Creighton University Medical Center’s intensive care unit Friday, after being brought to the facility Thursday afternoon. A motorist called the police after spotting the woman slumped over the wheel of a broken-down pickup truck just after 2 p.m. Thursday. The truck was found alongside Mormon Bridge Road by Interstate 29. Investigators say Proplesch was handcuffed, duct taped and severely beaten.

The woman managed to tell investigators her attackers planned to dispose of her body, but the truck ran out of gas. Authorities say one of the men stopped at a nearby home and asked some roofers for help. One of the roofers, whose identity was not released, was able to identify the man on surveillance video for the investigators.

KETV says Bey was taken down by authorities in the parking lot of an Omaha bar and grill, Friday night. His alleged accomplice remains at large and is considered to be armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about the location of Travis Labno, is urged to call the Pottawattamie County Communications Center at 712-328-5737, or 9-1-1.