Police Search for Shawnee Attacker

By Charles Bassett, NEWS 9

SHAWNEE, Oklahoma -- Authorities in Pottawatomie County are looking for the people who they say beat a man and left him for dead.

It started Thursday evening near a rural neighborhood called Rainbow Valley in southern Pottawatomie County, where the victim had come to visit friends.

"He was attacked, he was hit in the head evidently twice," said Pottawatomie County Sheriff Michael Booth. "He has a gash on the top of this head and one on the back of his head. He was stripped, he was robbed, he was taken somewhere in the woods and dumped in a pond."

The sheriff says water from the pond may have actually saved the man's life because it woke him up after he was hit.

The man wandered around in the woods for nearly six hours before finally finding his way to an intersection of Little River and Okay Road.

"A passerby found him and then contacted the sheriff's office," said Booth. "Our deputies went out there, canvassed the area, and talked to people."

The victim doesn't remember a lot about the attack but a tip lead deputies to the truck and they found evidence inside that the sheriff says could lead to the arrests of at least two people.

Right now, investigators are trying to figure out why the victim was targeted and if the friends he was visiting were in on it.

"That's something we're trying to determine right now as a matter of fact, whether he was set up or whether this was someone seeing an opportunity," Booth said.

The sheriff says the suspects face robbery, assault, kidnapping and attempted murder charges.

The victim was treated and released from the hospital, but his name isn't being released until the suspects are arrested.