EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Authorities say they received a 911 call Friday from a caller who claimed the father of Ethan Couch choked her at an Eagle Mountain home.
According to Sheriff Dee Anderson, the call came from a woman who identified herself as Fred Couch's girlfriend. Deputies went to the home.
"She told them briefly in a brief conversation that she had been choked and kept from leaving the residence," Anderson says. "The deputies said they could see some red marks on her neck, consistent with what she was saying."
A deputy who responded to the call said Fred Couch wasn't at the scene when they arrived.
Anderson said the woman refused then refused to cooperate with deputies and wouldn't allow them to take photos of her injuries. She ended up leaving the home before deputies were finished investigating.
The sheriff said authorities are working on a report but are not actively searching for Fred Couch.
"There's no reason to," Anderson says. "We couldn't arrest him if we found him."
Much of the attention directed at the Couch family has been on son Ethan's 2013 crime. He killed four people while driving drunk, then ran off to Mexico this past December, instead of checking in for probation. He was returned to Texas from Mexico last month.
Fred Couch has his own legal issues as well. He was arrested by North Richland Hills police in 2014, accused of impersonating a police officer. Court records show he was convicted of misdemeanor assault in 2000.
News 8's call and email to Couch's attorney were not returned Friday.
