VIDEO: Hatchet victim describes brutal attack during emotional court hearing
Published at | Updated at
The details in the story are violently graphic. Reader discretion is advised.
UPDATE:
The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office reports Faustino A. Anaya, wanted in connection with the kidnapping and aggravated assault of Brandon Bykonen, was taken into custody at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, near Lovejoy and Royal Streets in Idaho Falls.
According to a sheriff’s office news release, Anaya was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies and Idaho Falls Police Department. He was arrested without incident and booked into the Bonneville County Jail
ORIGINAL STORY:
IDAHO FALLS – After being tied up, blindfolded, and driven to the foothills of Bonneville County, Brandon Bykonen testified Friday that Devan Crawford told him to “reach out in front of you like you’re reaching for your daughter.”
Bykonen, 32, said Crawford then “hacked” his hands with a hatchet multiple times as blood gushed down his arms.
Details of the attack were revealed Friday afternoon during a preliminary hearing in Bonneville County. Three men and one woman are facing charges in connection with the kidnapping and assault of Bykonen.
Crawford, 23, and Sarah Oden, 23, waived their preliminary hearings, but proceedings were held for Alvaro “Tito” Oseguera, 33, and Ivan Sandoval, 19. One other man connected to the attack, 19-year-old Faustino A. Anaya, is still at large.
Bykonen testified that on Aug. 27, he and Sandoval met up at a laundromat and traveled to Oseguera’s mobile home on Lakewood Drive. They planned to give Oseguera an air compressor and other property in exchange for $80 of meth and $20 for gas money.
“I walked in the house and was attacked,” an emotional Bykonen said during the hearing. “I was told to get to the ground and not move as someone tied my hands together.”
Bykonen testified Oseguera and Crawford told him the abuse was a result of him “being a nark.” The pair, along with Oden, told Bykonen they believed he was an undercover drug police officer who “snitched” on them.
After being blindfolded and tied up, Bykonen testified Crawford and Sandoval put him into Bykonen’s Mustang, and they drove to an open field on Lincoln Hill.
“I was placed face down in the dirt and forced to extend my bound hands out in front of me,” Bykonen said, fighting back tears. “He just started hacking my hands.”
Bykonen testified he heard Oden and Oseguera, who had traveled in another vehicle, joking about the attack. At one point, he overheard one person say, “You must have hit an artery. He’s bleeding pretty bad.”
After the attack, Bykonen was instructed to remain face down in the dirt for five minutes, after which Oden drove Crawford and Sandoval away.
Bykonen said he tried to remove the blindfold but realized at least one of his fingers was no longer there. He was eventually able to get it off and wrapped his bloody hands with it.
Bykonen testified he then walked a half of a mile to an elderly couple’s home. They called 911, and Bykonen was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
“I have no pinky on my left hand. I have severed tendons and nerve damage and no feeling or movement in my hands,” Bykonen said. “There’s a 50/50 chance I never will again.”
During the 3.5-hour hearing, Oseguera sat stone-faced at the defendant’s table. Sandoval smiled and motioned to family members in the courtroom, but remained solemn during the majority of the proceedings.
All the suspects face kidnapping and mayhem charges. Crawford and Oden will appear in court again Sept. 29. Future court dates for Oseguera and Sandoval have not been scheduled yet.
EastIdahoNews.com will have video of the hearing and a more in-depth story early next week.
RELATED CONTENT
4 suspected in kidnapping and hatchet attack have court dates postponed