Linda Harris SENTENCED — Tyler Vannest, right, listens as Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin reads statements from his two victims into the record Wednesday. Vannest was sentenced to 4.5 years for prison after terrorizing his ex-wife and another individual to the point they jumped out a window. He was represented by Attorney Steven Stickles.

STEUBENVILLE — A Mingo Junction man admitted Wednesday to threatening to kill his ex-wife and another family member who jumped from a second-floor window to escape him in a 2024 incident.

Tyler Scott Vannest, 35, was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese to the maximum penalty of 4.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to two felony counts of abduction, two misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and having a weapon while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said the victims, particularly a traumatized family member, would have had to testify had the case gone to trial.

“The trauma (they) endured was horrific,” she told Bruzzese.

The two victims told authorities Vannest threatened to “kill everyone” in the house after assaulting them in May 2024. They barricaded themselves in a bathroom and begged him not to hurt them, but said he told them it was “too late” before going to retrieve a gun.

Realizing they would not be able to hold him off because the door had been “knocked in before” and would not lock properly, the two jumped to safety, leaving a toddler asleep in another room.

In victim impact statements read into the record by Hanlin, both victims told Bruzzese they feared for their lives when they jumped.

The younger victim said she started a car and then hid behind another vehicle after seeing Vannest come out of the house still carrying a rifle, grab the keys from the ignition and throw them into the woods.

“At that point I ran the opposite direction, terrified (and) thinking I could be shot while trying to escape,” the victim wrote, adding, “What happened that day changed my life in ways I still cannot fully explain.”

“The fear and trauma that night did not end when it was over,” the family member wrote. “I carry it with me every single day. I still have nightmares about what happened, and there are nights I wake up terrified and cannot go back to sleep. Even when I am supposed to feel safe, I do not. A part of me is always waiting for something bad to happen again.”

The family member added, “Before this I never thought about surviving or being afraid in my own home. Now fear follows me everywhere. What happened did not just affect me for one night. It changed the way I live, the way I think and the way I see the world.”

Vannest’s ex-wife said the incident was not isolated but instead “the final and most violent escalation of years of fear, intimidation, control and abuse.”

She wrote that after moving in with him, “From that point on he had complete control and he knew it.”

“I was not allowed to disagree, have a voice or make decisions without consequences,” she wrote. “He constantly threatened to throw me out. He threatened to burn or destroy my belongings, and I believed him because he had already intentionally broken my things before. I became so afraid of losing everything that I even took out a renter’s insurance policy just to protect what little I had left.”

She wrote that on the night of the incident, “He woke me from sleep. He taunted me. He attacked me. I had to scream for help. When we tried to escape, he armed himself with a high-powered rifle because he wanted maximum destruction.”

“I may not have walked away covered in visible injuries, but the damage he caused cannot be measured by bruises alone,” she wrote. “I was diagnosed with complex PTSD. I still live with nightmares, panic at unexpected noises and the constant struggle to feel safe even in my own home.”

Hanlin said the situation could have been far worse.

“The quick actions of Lt. Rob Alexander, Lt. Kohl Liddick, Deputy Meya Cook and Deputy Corey Virtue likely prevented this horrific situation from developing into a murder-suicide,” she said. “This defendant had become completely unhinged. Both victims jumped from a second-floor window seconds before the armed defendant was able to break down the door of the bathroom where they were barricaded. An 11-month-old baby sleeping in the home was safely recovered by officers. The victims wanted this chapter closed and to know they would be safe from this man.”

Vannest had no prior offenses, she said. As part of the agreement, all firearms seized from his residence will be surrendered to the sheriff’s department, and after serving his prison sentence he will be under a lifetime weapons disability.

Hanlin said avoiding a trial was important to prevent further trauma.

“We did not want to further traumatize them by forcing them through a trial, which would have required them to relive this night of terror,” she said.

Vannest, who will receive credit for 18 days already served in the county jail, is scheduled to turn himself in Monday to begin serving his sentence. His attorney, Steven Stickles, declined comment.