BUNCOMBE COUNTY, NC - A 29-year-old North Carolina man with over a dozen prior arrests in addition to two prior criminal convictions was given a $5,000 bond earlier in May after allegedly ambushing a woman who was hiking in Buncombe County, with the victim claiming he threatened to “drag her into the woods.”
Local reports out of Buncombe County detailed the arrest of 29-year-old Dillon James Curtis, who was reportedly taken into custody on May 23 in connection with an alleged attack that occurred two days earlier along a hiking trail in Bent Creek.
The victim in the case, an online content creator named Emily Sutherland, informed authorities that the suspect had approached her unprovoked and began verbally and physically assaulting her, allegedly threatening to knock her unconscious and take her into the woods. During the alleged incident, the victim claimed the suspect tried to take her phone while she attempted to call authorities.
Following an intervention by two bystanders, who Sutherland identified as mountain bikers named Harvest and Trevor, the suspect reportedly “backed off.” There was initial jurisdictional confusion on whether local police or the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) would handle the case; BCSO assumed the lead on the investigation after the confusion was cleared up.
A warrant was subsequently issued for Curtis’ arrest, aided in part by social media sleuths who were able to identify Curtis via the tattoos described by Sutherland after she posted about the experience online. The suspect’s initial charges upon booking were four misdemeanors, which consisted of assault on a female, false imprisonment, interfering with emergency communication, and communicating threats.
Curtis’ criminal history includes a 2025 conviction for simple assault and a 2022 conviction for DUI and over a dozen prior arrests dating back to 2019 for offenses ranging from expired tags to drugs and various trespassing misdemeanors. The incident sparked outrage at the local and national level when Curtis was charged with only a misdemeanor and with such low bail.
officials out of Buncombe County have not yet issued any formal statement on Curtis’ case as of this writing, jail records show that as of May 24, his ability to post bond was revoked after Curtis was charged with a Class E felony of second-degree kidnapping. The defendant’s next scheduled court appearance is slated for May 26.
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