An Augusta man with a long history of domestic violence against his girlfriend is the subject of a manhunt after allegedly disfiguring the victim early Monday.
Christopher Ledford, 56, is being sought for aggravated battery after striking his 55-year-old girlfriend so hard that he caused an orbital fracture of her left eye, authorities said. The victim was taken to Doctors Hospital while Ledford fled in his silver Ford Ranger truck.
The incident happened around midnight inside their room at the Masters Inn at 3027 Washington Road in Augusta. The victim was less than cooperative with authorities, but officers determined Ledford was the suspect.
The victim’s boyfriend has been arrested at least four times in Richmond and Columbia counties for domestic violence, including a July 2021 incident. That’s when he allegedly punched her and threw a bottle of laundry detergent at the same girlfriend inside their room at the Hawthorn Suites in Grovetown. Columbia County deputies found the victim bleeding from the mouth and a T-shirt covered in blood. Her teeth were loose from the boyfriend’s punch and her lip was cut. She needed stitches but declined EMS at the time.
Ledford was arrested in that case and he pleaded guilty a year later. But he served little time in jail and was re-arrested just three months after the plea, this time in Richmond County. (Story continues below.)
The couple apparently remained together, and Ledford went on to be arrested more times in Richmond County. Only one of three Richmond County cases have gone to court with a guilty plea from a September 2021 assault, leading to an 8-month jail sentence by Judge Patricia Booker. The other two Augusta cases remain pending.
Ledford is known to frequent the area of Greenway Drive and Bridgeport Drive in Augusta, authorities say. Any information concerning this subject, please contact Inv. Britney Moore 706-821-4850, or any on-duty investigator with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 706-821-1020 or 706-821-1080.
