Amputee's Prosthetic Leg Taken in Near-Fatal Beating, Leaving Him to Crawl for Help: Police
Two men and the victim's ex-girlfriend are facing charges in North Carolina after an attack in which, police say, the men allegedly robbed and nearly beat to death an amputee before stealing his prosthetic leg, PEOPLE confirms.
"It seems to be the motive is that she was not happy about the dissolution of the relationship," Capt. Curtis Rosselle of the Gaston County police tells PEOPLE of the woman's alleged role in the attack, "and this was the way she chose to display her displeasure."
On Thursday police arrested the woman, Holly Dawn Mesker, 32, of Stanley, along with her ex-husband, Patrick Wayne Christopher, 43, of Newton. Both are being held on $1 million bond, according to records from the Gaston County jail.
On Monday police charged a third man, William Ortho, who previously had been held for receiving stolen property connected to the alleged break-in, Capt. Rosselle says.
Mesker and Christopher were charged with the identical felonies of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree burglary, larceny after breaking and entering, larceny of a motor vehicle and three counts of conspiracy.
Charges against Ortho were not immediately available, Rosselle says.
It was not immediately clear if any of the three had obtained an attorney or entered a plea.
"Well, now that the people behind this are in jail guess I can post about it," victim Aaron Sanders, of Stanley, wrote Saturday on his Facebook page. "On Thursday morning someone broke into my house tied me up and beat me with a baseball bat a tazer and a machete. Only when they thought I was dead did they cover my body to hide it and stole my car and took my prosthetic leg souvenir I guess."
He added: "I survived by a miracle large hole in my head broke arm and leg but alive just the same."
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Sanders and Mesker were in a "dating relationship" and living together, Rosselle tells PEOPLE, although Mesker was not at their shared address at the time of the attack on Sanders, which occurred around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday.
"I guess they had issues and he told her to get out, and maybe even gave her a few days," he says. "She didn't take kindly to this, and contacted her ex-husband, who in return contacted a buddy of his."
Rosselle says that Christopher and Ortho allegedly went to the home, made unlawful entry through an unlocked door and proceeded to assault the sleeping Sanders – who was not wearing his prosthetic in bed – with an aluminum baseball bat and an electric stun gun.
They also also allegedly displayed a machete, Rosselle says: "It was a threat of sorts, but they never hit him [with it], never cut him."
"They left him for dead," he says. "Everything we're seeing tells us they believed he was going to die."
The assailants, who were wearing masks and went unrecognized, also attacked the victim's cat, to the point where blood was coming from its ear, Rosselle says. Then they took items including the victim's wallet, Jeep Cherokee, the prosthetic leg and his phone.
"He couldn't make a call for help, so he crawled in his state of disrepair from being assaulted to the neighbor's house to get help," Rosselle says. "He was a pretty committed person to go get help in that much pain."
The emergency call reached police at 4:45 a.m. By Thursday night, police say, the suspects were identified.
"The easiest thing was starting with the girlfriend," Rosselle. says "We connected the dots starting with her."
Police also recovered the missing vehicle and other items taken from the scene. The prosthetic leg was found in the Jeep.
Did the accused men explain why they'd allegedly grabbed the leg? "No," says Rosselle. "Not real talkative."
As for Sanders, who has since been treated and released, "he's remarkably strong," Rosselle says. "He got himself out of the hospital before I would have, so he's going good."