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Woman says boyfriend held her captive

Chad Abraham

A woman told police her boyfriend locked her in a room in the Red Mountain home of socialite Denise Rich for three days over the Thanksgiving holiday.The accusation was made Sunday when the woman filed a domestic abuse complaint related to a separate domestic incident.There was nothing in a police report to indicate that Rich was involved or even home at the time. Rich is referred to in the report as a client of suspect Jules Paxton, but the nature of their relationship is unclear.The victim, whose name was not being released, called authorities Sunday to report that Paxton assaulted her at the residence they share at 731 S. Mill St. The woman said Paxton picked her up by her neck, threw her to the floor and choked her Sunday night. Officers found the Mill Street home disheveled with furniture and other items thrown about, according to the police report.The woman told authorities about the alleged incident at Rich’s home after an officer asked the woman about a scar on her wrist.”[The victim] told me that she had cut her wrist out of desperation during the week of Thanksgiving, when Paxton had locked [her] in a room for three days at the residence of Denise Rich, who is a client of Paxton’s on Red Mountain,” the report says.She told the officer that Paxton assaulted her in Rich’s home, then refused to take her to the hospital for treatment. When she threatened to go to the police, she said, he locked her in the room and would not let her out for three days, according to the report.The officer asked the woman “if the authorities were called at that time and she told me no, because Paxton did not want any problems with his client, Denise Rich,” the report says. “I asked [the victim] if Paxton was fearful that he might lose his clients in Aspen if anything was ever exposed of his abuse to her. [The woman] stated, ‘Yes, he is afraid that he may lose all the money that he gets from Rich.'”Paxton is charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief. He posted bond and was released from jail early Monday and made his first appearance in court yesterday.Neither Paxton nor Rich is listed and efforts to reach them were unsuccessful.Rich was at the center of controversy late in President Clinton’s second term when he pardoned her ex-husband, Marc. Critics questioned whether the pardon was tied to political donations from Denise Rich. Chad Abraham’s e-mail address is chad@aspentimes.com