Prosecutors say the woman escaped only after the suspect fell asleep.

PEORIA, Ill. — An Illinois man will remain jailed until trial after prosecutors said he beat his girlfriend for eight to nine hours, strangled her, threw knives at her and kept her from leaving their home.

Johnnie J. Chiaravalle, 21, is charged with two counts of aggravated domestic battery, one count of domestic battery and one count of unlawful restraint. The Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office said a judge granted the state’s request to detain him after a Tuesday hearing, moving the case from an emergency police response into a pending felony prosecution. The woman was hospitalized with injuries that officials described as not life-threatening.

The case began the morning of April 13, when Peoria police officers were sent to the East Bluff Community Center at 512 E. Kansas Ave. for a report that a woman had been attacked. Officers found a woman with severe visible injuries, prosecutors said. Her eyes were nearly swollen shut. She had cuts and lacerations on both legs and bruising across her face and body. The woman told officers her boyfriend, identified by prosecutors as Chiaravalle, attacked her and would not let her leave their home. She said the violence lasted through the night and into the next day. Peoria County prosecutors said in their release that the woman reported she was able to leave only after Chiaravalle fell asleep. The state’s attorney’s office said the account led police back to the home, where officers later took Chiaravalle into custody.

Prosecutors said the woman described several forms of violence during the alleged attack. She told police Chiaravalle struck her in the face, head and body with his fists, fracturing her nose. She also reported that he strangled her multiple times and threw knives at her, causing the cuts and lacerations officers saw on her legs. Officials have not released the woman’s name. They also have not said whether anyone else was inside the home during the alleged assault. Chiaravalle gave a different account when officers found him, according to prosecutors. He told officers he had been asleep and said someone else must have caused the woman’s injuries. Police then searched the home and found clumps of hair believed to belong to the woman, red blood-like stains on the floor and several steak and folding knives, prosecutors said. Those items were listed as part of the continuing investigation, not as findings tested in court.

The detention ruling means Chiaravalle is not being released while the case waits for trial. Prosecutors said the court granted their request during the hearing after charges were filed April 14. A separate report from the Peoria Journal Star said the hearing was before Circuit Judge James Mack. The state’s attorney’s office said Chiaravalle will remain in custody until trial. The next scheduled step is arraignment, set for May 13 at 1:30 p.m. In Illinois felony cases, arraignment is the point where formal charges are read and a defendant enters a plea. Court records or later statements may also set deadlines for discovery, motions and further hearings. Officials have not reported a trial date, and Chiaravalle is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The address where police first met the woman, the East Bluff Community Center, is in a Peoria neighborhood east of the Illinois River. The location matters in the timeline because police did not first encounter the injured woman at the home where the attack allegedly happened. They were called to a public community site after the woman had left. Prosecutors have not said how far she traveled, who first reported the attack or whether anyone at the center provided aid before officers arrived. The available public account places the center as the first confirmed point where officers saw the woman’s injuries and heard her account. It also places the home as the second scene, where officers contacted Chiaravalle and found the items they described in the release.

The injuries described by police shaped the charges filed the next day. Aggravated domestic battery can involve serious injury or strangulation, and prosecutors cited both the fractured nose and the woman’s report that she was strangled multiple times. The unlawful restraint charge is tied to the allegation that Chiaravalle would not allow her to leave the home. Domestic battery covers the alleged physical attack within a dating relationship. Prosecutors have not released a full complaint or charging document in the public statement, so the exact wording of each count was not included. They also have not said whether the alleged knives were tested, whether medical records have been received or whether officers recovered clothing, photographs or other physical evidence.

Police statements described the case as ongoing, leaving several parts of the investigation unresolved. Officials have not said when the alleged attack started, what time the woman left the home, how long she had been dating Chiaravalle or whether police had been called to the same home before. They have not released a statement from a defense attorney. Chiaravalle’s statement to officers, as described by prosecutors, denied causing the injuries and blamed an unknown other person. That claim has not been tested in court. Investigators are expected to compare the woman’s account with physical evidence from the home, medical findings from the hospital and any available witness statements from the community center or nearby area.

As of the latest public statements, Chiaravalle remained in the Peoria County Jail, the woman was recovering from injuries officials said were not life-threatening, and the case was moving toward the May 13 arraignment.

Author note: Last updated May 7, 2026.