Asheville runner says man tried to drag her into woods on trail

Why was a 29-year-old Etowah man with 15 prior arrests, including a previous kidnapping charge, allowed to post a $5,000 secured bond after a woman said he tried to drag her into the woods on a Bent Creek trail?

That question has driven sharp criticism in Buncombe County after the arrest of Dillion James Curtis, who was booked into the Buncombe County Detention Facility after an alleged attack in Bent Creek Experimental Forest, south of Asheville, near Bent Creek Gap and Laurel Branch roads. The trail network, set deep in the Pisgah National Forest, is a regular route for runners and cyclists who use it for exercise and recreation.

Emily Sutherland, an Asheville outdoor content creator, said the incident happened while she was finishing a 13-mile run on the evening of Thursday, May 21, 2026, around 7 p.m. She said Curtis followed her in his car, got out, tried to punch her multiple times, attempted to restrain her, and tried to take her cellphone as she tried to call police. According to warrants quoted by local media, he allegedly threatened to “knock her out and drag her into the woods.” Sutherland said two mountain bikers, identified in one report as Harvest and Trevor, arrived in a truck and caused the suspect to back off.

The Buncombe County Public Safety Communications Center received the call Friday morning, May 22. Curtis was arrested in Henderson County on Saturday, May 23, and local reports said he was initially charged with assault on a female, false imprisonment, interfering with emergency communications and communicating threats. A felony charge of second-degree kidnapping was added later. He was being held on a $5,000 secured bond and was scheduled to appear in court on May 26.

Under North Carolina law, second-degree kidnapping is a Class E felony when the victim is released in a safe place and not seriously injured or sexually assaulted. State pretrial-release law says a judge must use discretion in deciding whether a defendant charged with kidnapping can be released before trial, and must consider criminal history in setting conditions of release. In cases like this one, that discretion is now under a microscope.

The case has also sharpened concern over trail safety in a county where Bent Creek is one of the most heavily used outdoor spaces near Asheville. That unease has been amplified by other serious kidnapping cases in Buncombe County, including a 2025 case in which a Florida man pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree kidnapping in the abduction and sexual assault of three juveniles. For many local runners and riders, the question is no longer just what happened on one trail, but whether the system set enough protection around people using it.