John Woeltz, one of the two crypto investors charged with torturing an Italian businessman in his NY SoHo townhouse, allegedly held his ex-fiancée captive, threatening to kill her, just months before his arrest in Manhattan, per a new report by The NY Magazine on August 11.
The accused kidnapper was recently released from the infamous Rikers Island on a $1 million bond pending trial, where he was locked up alongside his alleged crypto kidnapping partner, William Duplessie.
William Duplessie and John Woeltz spent millions partying at NYC clubs — until one was accused of torturing an Italian tourist for his crypto accounts in a Soho townhouse. https://t.co/OUPMDQN1ux
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) August 11, 2025
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Woeltz And Duplessie Legal Teams’ Gave A Bizarre Explanation Of Italian Businessman’s Weeks-Long Captivity
The terrifying breakup came a couple of months before Woeltz and Duplessie were arrested on accusations they held Italian crypto trader Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan captive and tortured him, including with hacksaws and a chainsaw, for access to his Bitcoin holdings.
Carturan’s alleged captivity ended in May when he escaped from a Manhattan townhouse barefoot and approached an NYPD traffic officer for help, before leading law enforcement back to the property.
Lawyers representing both Woeltz and Duplessie have argued that Carturan’s weeks-long ordeal was part of a strange, but consensual, party in Woeltz’s SoHo home. They compared it to a “long-running frat party,” suggesting that the businessman was essentially being hazed.
According to the criminal complaint filed at the time of Woeltz’s arrest, Woeltz and Duplessie reportedly kidnapped the victim, took his electronic devices and passport, and tortured him until he managed to escape seventeen days later.
The pair was attempting to get Carturan to hand over access to his Bitcoin portfolio, and when he refused, they beat him, shocked him with electrical wires, and hit him in the head with a gun.
Woeltz and Duplessie allegedly aimed a gun at the victim’s head on multiple occasions, dangled him over a top-floor staircase, and threatened to kill him if he did not reveal his password.
Alleged Crypto Kidnappers John Woeltz and Williams Duplessie were granted a $1MM bail package. Judge made sure to note that crypto and bitcoin would not be accepted as payment. They must wear electronic ankle monitors, surrender passports, and go through a security inspection… https://t.co/t8GCLfL93a pic.twitter.com/LVaHbxwYr5
— Lauren Conlin (@conlin_lauren) July 23, 2025
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John Woeltz Allegedly Dug A Hole To Bury His Ex-Fiancée In
Woeltz’s ex, Kayla Barbour, via a Kentucky restraining order from earlier this year, said the recently paroled kidnapper had descended into “paranoid, cultlike behavior” alongside Duplessie, in the lead up to their arrest in May.
The 37-year-old, seemingly mild-mannered Woeltz’s simmering violence in Kentucky boiled over in January, when he allegedly blew up at his fiancée for not loading a firearm’s magazine clip for him.
“I am afraid this person is extremely unhinged and severely mentally ill, and completely unpredictable as he reacts violently in fits of rage,” Woeltz’s ex-fiancée wrote in the restraining order application, adding, “He is armed and dangerous.”
Woeltz is accused of grabbing his ex by the throat, putting a gun to her head, and “screaming that he was going to kill me and that he had a hole dug to bury me in,” Barbour wrote in a restraining order petition, according to the NY Magazine.
The NY Magazine report also claims that Woeltz and Duplessie locked Barbour in a bedroom and refused to let her leave for several hours. At a later date, Barbour broke up with Woeltz and later discovered that her Mazda, which was still parked at his Kentucky house, had been shot up, with its windows blown out as a result.
The article describes Barbour as an aspiring actress who owns a small business in Lexington, KY. She has dated Woeltz for two years and plans to marry in Hawaii in late 2024.
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