The manhunt for ex-Nebraska wrestler AJ Ferrari has ended. An arrest warrant had been issued for him by Lancaster County authorities following a domestic dispute in May in Lincoln. There were reports that he had violently assaulted an eight-month pregnant woman, and the authorities were following up on tips they had received recently. Finally, Ferrari was found hiding in a garage near Bennington.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the 24-year-old was taken into custody on the outstanding Lancaster County warrant, which charged him with strangulation or suffocation of a pregnant woman, third-degree domestic assault of a pregnant woman, and first-degree false imprisonment.

Investigators with the sheriff’s Special Operations Group had set up surveillance at the residence, and at around 10:42 AM, they saw a woman leave and get into a pickup truck. It was then that Ferrari could be seen crawling out of the garage to join her in the back seat. Police tracked the car and made a felony traffic arrest, after which Ferrari was booked into the Douglas County Department of Corrections.

The charges stem from an incident in which police in the capital city of Nebraska were called on May 8, after a woman told officers she and Ferrari had gotten into a fight at a north Lincoln apartment and that he would not let her leave. According to the arrest affidavit, the woman said the wrestler dragged her off a bed by her feet and strangled her, and that she tried kicking him because she was pregnant and feared for her baby’s safety. She could eventually break free, called her mother, and was taken to the hospital, where doctors noted neck injuries consistent with strangulation.

He was arrested again in late June when a state trooper pulled him over near North Platte for driving a Chevrolet Corvette over 110 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone. Ferrari was pursued by the trooper on both highways and then abandoned his car and ran off on foot, only to be tracked down and charged in court with flight to avoid arrest, reckless driving, and obstructing police.

During his time of arrest, he was booked and released on a $2,000 bond. This came just months after he was arrested in Lancaster County on an outstanding warrant in January, but charges were dropped within the week. 

For those who have followed Ferrari’s career, the latest developments are unfortunately not an isolated incident. His rise in wrestling has repeatedly been interrupted by controversy away from the mat.

A career defined as much by talent as by repeated controversy

AJ Ferrari was once one of the hottest prospects in wrestling. The top-ranked recruit in the country out of Texas, he won the 197-pound NCAA title as a true freshman at Oklahoma State in 2021, becoming just the third true freshman in program history to do so.

He then went 10-0 the following season before a car accident ended his year early. He was dismissed from Oklahoma State later that year amid an assault investigation, which led to a battery charge that was ultimately dismissed in 2023 after the accuser cited concerns for her mental health.

What followed was a long, rough road to college wrestling. Ferrari threw a punch at another wrestler after a 2023 event, derailing a planned move to Iowa. He eventually landed at Cal State Bakersfield, where he took third at the 2025 NCAA championships. The Texas native made a short-term commitment to North Carolina, but it fell apart when he was denied admission to the university and ultimately transferred to Nebraska. 

He achieved heavyweight division All-American honors before another post-match controversy, this time claiming a rival used performance-enhancing drugs after losing his semi-final match. With his college eligibility and next destination both now firmly in question, this latest arrest adds another chapter to a career that has repeatedly found itself defined by trouble off the mat as much as talent on it.