DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah, April 9, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Five people were charged Monday with attempted aggravated murder after officials say they attacked and severely beat a woman and her husband at the couple’s home Friday night.
The Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release that in addition to the attempted aggravated murder charges, prosecutors also have charged the five with aggravated assault and aggravated burglary.
The charges, filed in 8th District Court, are all first-degree felonies.
The suspects are: Thomas Neil Tuinman, 35; Stephanie Tuinman, 33; Michael Wallace Tuinman, 30; Samantha Tuinman, 30; and Byron Rashad Thompson, 29.
All five were arrested and booked into the Duchesne County Jail.
Thomas Tuinman and Byron Thompson remained in jail Monday. Samantha, Stephanie and Michael Tuinman were released after posting bail.
According to the news release, a deputy was dispatched to 2725 W. 2500 South in the Vonsville area near Roosevelt at about 9 p.m. Friday.
Upon arrival, the deputy saw a woman sitting on the porch of a nearby house, where a few other people had gathered around her. She was screaming in pain and bleeding from her head, nose and mouth.
She told the deputy that someone had broken down her front door and beat her and her husband.
The deputy then went next door and found the woman’s husband. He, too, was bleeding from his head, nose and mouth.
He also had a gash on his knee, and “cuts and bruises from his neck to his buttocks on his back. The man said somebody had broken down his front door and chased him and his wife outside, then hit and kicked him,” the news release states.
The man and woman were taken by ambulance to the hospital, where medical staff determined the woman had bleeding on her brain. The woman told investigators one of the female suspects hit her in the head with a bat.
Officlals say the woman identified Thomas Tuinman, Samantha Tuinman, and Mike Tuinman as the people who assaulted her and her husband. She said she recognized another woman and man involved in the attack, but didn’t know their names.
Because of the severity of her injuries, the woman was flown to a Wasatch Front hospital for further treatment. She remained hospitalized Monday.
The man who was beaten told investigators he was “struck with pieces of wood and other objects from his backyard, and had been punched and kicked while he was on the ground behind his house.”
He initially was treated at the hospital and released, but was readmitted Monday for further treatment.
Officials are not releasing the victims’ names or medical conditions at this time.
Duchesne County investigators interviewed Thomas Tuinman, Samantha Tuinman, Stephanie Tuinman, and Byron Thompson at the Roosevelt Police Department, and learned that the four had driven together to the victims’ house, where they were met by Michael Tuinman.
“Detectives were told that a few members of the group went to the front door, which was open with only the glass storm door closed. They broke the glass out and entered the house, chasing both victims out of the house and then assaulted them both outside of the home,” the news release states.
The investigation is active and detectives are working to determine a motive for the crime.
