By SHARON MONTAGUE Geary County Sheriff Jim Jensen said Michael Streeter, 21, was barely
conscious when he was discovered about 8:30 a.m. Friday near the Milford Nature
Center and fish hatchery at Milford State Park, eight miles northwest of
Junction City.
By Friday afternoon, two unidentified Junction City men had been arrested in
connection with the attack, and two more men were being sought.
The victim was taken to Geary County Community Hospital in Junction City,
then flown by air ambulance to Via Christi Regional Medical Center in Wichita.
He was in fair condition there Friday afternoon.
Officials believe he was kidnapped and his 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe stolen
between 11:30 p.m. and midnight Friday from Flying J Travel Plaza. Jensen didn't
know exactly what happened at Flying J, but he characterized it as a
car-jacking.
"We don't have the details," Jensen said. "The victim's not capable of
talking right now."
Jensen said it didn't appear the suspects knew the victim.
"They wanted that vehicle -- they thought it was a cool vehicle -- and they
did what they had to do to get it," Jensen said.
Jensen said it appeared the kidnappers took their victim to a frontage road
that runs along the east side of the dam at Milford Lake, where they attacked
him. Jensen said officers think they know what type of weapon was used in the
attack, but he didn't want to release that information until the weapon was
found.
The attack was a brutal one, Jensen said.
"He was cut up pretty bad, very bad," Jensen said.
He said he didn't think the victim fought back, "not even when they were
hacking him."
After his attackers fled, the victim walked or crawled about a quarter of a
mile from the frontage road to a lighted area near Milford Nature Center and
fish hatchery, where he was found about 8:30 a.m. Friday by people arriving for
work.
Jensen said authorities followed a bloody trail to discover the place where
the man was attacked.
Two Junction City men suspected in the attack were arrested about 11 a.m.
Friday as they fled the victim's burning Tahoe. Jensen said the vehicle was set
on fire three to four miles southeast of Milford Lake, in the western part of
Geary County, off U.S. Highway 77.
Jensen wouldn't identify the two men who were arrested but said they were
both about 18 years old. The two other men being sought are about the same age,
he said.
Because the kidnapping occurred in Salina, Salina police officers are
assisting in the investigation, according to Lt. Mike Sweeney. He did not say
what part Salina officers would play in the investigation.
Bill Coffman, owner of Rush Creek Marina at Milford State Park, said the
discovery of the bloodied man was the topic of the day in the area.
"My youngest son drove across the dam this morning, and he said it looked
like all the law enforcement officers in Kansas were below the hatchery,"
Coffman said.
He said the area, while quiet at night, is well-traveled during the day.
"In the daytime, anything that goes across the dam can look right down on top
of it (the frontage road where the victim was attacked), and a lot of traffic
goes across the dam during the day," Coffman said.
He said the discovery of the man at the usually placid lake was chilling.
"Far as I'm concerned, they've got trees to hang people out of that do that
to other people," Coffman said. "They need to hang anybody that would do
anything like that."
The Salina Journal
JUNCTION CITY -- A Salina man
was kidnapped late Thursday from Flying J Travel Plaza at Interstate Highway 70
and Ohio Street and driven to Milford Lake, where he was brutally attacked.
* Reporter Sharon Montague can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 129, or
by e-mail at sjsmontague@saljournal.com.