By Rose Itzcovitz
Published: Aug. 13, 2018 at 7:41 PM CDT
A Dilworth man says he was brutally beaten and left for dead late Saturday night into Sunday morning at a local strip mall.
"I got a concussion, I have dislocated jaw...my left opening to my eye is cracked," 47-year-old Neale Johnson told Valley News Live, while laying in bed at his Dilworth home.
Johnson says he was heading back to Dilworth from Hawley late Saturday night, after having a drink with a relative. He stopped at the Red Hen Tap House in a Dilworth strip mall to use a bathroom—when nothing was open, he went behind the dumpster to the side, to relieve himself. That's when he heard noises.
"I noticed there was a couple...in the ditch right there...you know, sexual relations with each other,” Johnson said, “so then they noticed me and that's when he said, 'what the hell are you doing, you some kind of a pervert sitting there watching us?' And I said, 'no, no, no, I'm just trying to go to the bathroom, I'm sorry I'm on my way right now, don't even get up.'"
Johnson says he ran to his car, but was attacked from behind, possibly with a brick or a rock, and then dragged down to the ravine.
"You know he had me in the water trying to drown me," Johnson said.
Johnson says he kept pleading to be let go, and explained he had a family. He says he’s not sure if the woman who was with the man convinced him to stop drowning Johnson, but somehow he managed to survive. He passed out in the ditch and says he was in and out of consciousness for hours. Johnson says he stopped at the strip mall around 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. He says he was in and out, trying to drag himself back to his vehicle until almost 6 a.m.
His cell phone, wallet and glasses were all missing. He finally got to his car and drove home—with no glasses, and only one working eye.
"It was pretty tough to get home," he said.
The family says police later recovered his wallet with everything in tact: just the cash was missing.
Johnson’s family say they’d never met this couple before.
Sylvia Lizotte, Johnson’s stepdaughter, says her stepfather is more of a peacekeeper than a troublemaker.
"He's not an individual who is out looking for trouble, asking for trouble, even trying to provoke trouble. He's never been that type of individual ever,” Lizotte said.
Johnson’s stepson, Richard Carrillo, says he was shocked to see how badly his stepfather was beaten. Now he says he's hoping to help police catch the couple.
"Leads have come in through me,” Carrillo said, “that I forwarded to the Dilworth police department."
Carrillo took to Facebook, and asked hundreds of friends for help.
"I actually tracked down one potential suspect who my stepdad said could very well be the person," he said.
Carrillo says the Dilworth police questioned one of his suspects, but are also looking into possible surveillance footage from a couple nearby businesses.
Carrillo himself has a lengthy criminal history, dating as recent as 2013. Back in 1999, he was convicted for a drive-by shooting.
The Dilworth police tell us so far this incident does not appear to have gang ties.
"As far as my criminal background, that has nothing to play with this situation,” Carrillo said. “We don't know the people that done this."
"With Richard's criminal background...it affected us when he did the wrongdoing, absolutely, but we never had a direct impact,” Lizotte said. “Nobody has made that impact to us to say, 'Oh, well because of this, this is what's going to happen to you guys.'"
"I'm not that person no more,” Carrillo said. “'Cuz if I was that person, I wouldn't be going to the police."
But Carrillo is at least trying to help the police; and says he won't rest until justice is served.
The Dilworth police department released the following statement on its Facebook page:
Dilworth Police officers are actively investigating a felony assault and reported robbery in Dilworth between Friday at 2300 hrs and Saturday 0500 hrs, The victim stated he was traveling back from Hawley, MN and lives on the east side of Dilworth. Needing to use a restroom the victim ended up behind the strip mall on the west side of town where he parked behind the businesses north of the BNSF property and south of the ditch. The assault occurred between 2330 hrs and 0540 hrs when the victim made it home. The victim stated his attackers were a male and female and they were possibly homeless. The male is described as having shoulder length messy brown hair and the female is described as white with blonde hair down to the middle of her back. Several persons have been contacted in and around Dilworth/Moorhead and the investigation continues. If you have any information or observed anyone in the area during this time frame, you are encouraged to call the Dilworth Police Dept at 218-287-2666 you can remain anonymous.
