Alexus Guerrero, 26, Eddie Guyton, 24, and Robert Hollins IV, 35, face charges in a gruesome torture case. (South Bend Police Department)
Three people are accused of ambushing a man at gunpoint who thought he was being invited to an Indiana home for heroin and food, and binding him in chains in the basement, where they beat him with wood, burned him with a cigar, and waterboarded and strangled him before he broke free after five hours and called police.
The incident happened on March 22 when the victim told police one of the suspects invited him to the home to pick up food and heroin, authorities said in a news release from the South Bend Police Department.
The victim, who was not identified, said four people ambushed him in the kitchen. Two were armed with guns.
Officials said that one pointed a gun at him, threatened to shoot him, then fired it over his head.
He was forced to the basement, where he was bound with ropes, chains and cords and beaten with pieces of wood and an electrical cord, burned with a cigar and waterboarded, authorities said.
One of the assailants wrapped the cord around his neck and strangled him, officials said.
The victim alleged he was tortured for over five hours until he escaped the bindings and ran to a nearby home to call the police.
Authorities found him with an electrical cord still wrapped around his neck. He had a shirt that the suspects used to gag him, authorities said. He was hospitalized for numerous injuries. His condition on Saturday was not clear.
Detectives identified three suspects they said were familiar to the victim. Robert Hollins IV, 35, Eddie Guyton, 24, and Alexus Guerrero, 26, face gun and robbery-related charges and criminal confinement, intimidation, and battery. Details about a fourth suspect were unclear Saturday, but officials said in the news release that the investigation is ongoing.
Hollins also faces intimidation and a charge of unlawful carrying of a handgun – prior felony conviction within the last 15 years, authorities said. Guerrero faces an additional charge of strangulation.
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