UW–Madison Police Department

UWPD Arrests Man for Arboretum Aggravated Assault

  • Case number: 25-0488
  • Incident date: March 31, 2025, 6:30 am
  • Incident type: Aggravated Assault
  • Location/address: UW-Madison Arboretum

On Friday, April 4, 2025, detectives and officers from the UW-Madison Police Department
arrested a Madison man following an incident in the UW Arboretum.

On the morning on Monday, March 31, 2025, UWPD received a report of an aggravated assault
that occurred in the UW Arboretum. The victim stated they were strangled and forced to remain
in a vehicle during the incident. They were transported to a Madison-area hospital for evaluation
and treatment.

UWPD arrested Nahum Herrera Varela, age 37, during a traffic stop shortly after he left his place
of work. Herrera Varela is currently being held in the Dane County Jail on charges of False
Imprisonment and Strangulation and Suffocation.

Herrera Varela is not associated with UW-Madison.