Update: Stump’s official charge in District Court was filed Aug. 13 as felony aggravated assault. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 20 at 10 a.m. in District Court in Havre.
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A Box Elder man who allegedly tried to kill someone by repeatedly jumping on his chest to the point of crushing it is being held in jail on a $250,000 bond.
Elias Wayne Stump, born in 1982, is being held in the Hill County Detention Center on a pending charge of attempted deliberate homicide.
According to court documents:
On Wednesday, Hill County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a railroad crossing at 22nd Avenue where they were led by a railroad worker to a man who was lying in the grass. The man incurred injuries to his chest, neck and head. What stood out most to the deputies was that the victim’s chest appeared to have several broken ribs and was concaved in. The victim said he didn’t know who the man that attacked him was.
Deputies spoke to the victim after he’d been transported to the hospital. He told deputies that he was watching the trains roll by and drinking Vodka when his would-be attacker approached him. The two then shared the bottle and watched the trains go by.
Everything was fine until the man, who would later be identified as Stump, “snapped” and started calling him “Custer,” the victim said. He told deputies Stump accused him of “killing his people.” Stump attacked him. The alleged attacker was jumping on his chest with his knees and he also kicked and kneed him in the body several times. The victim said Stump put his knee on his throat and applied pressure, restricting his airflow. If the railroad worker who intervened would not have done so, he was afraid he would’ve been killed, the victim told deputies.
Hospital staff told the investigating deputies the victim could’ve been killed if the attacker wouldn’t have been stopped.
Deputies also spoke to two witnesses. One of them said he saw a tall Native American man in camouflage shorts jumping on the victim’s chest with his knees. Stump, the victim said, yelled at the victim that he was going to kill him. The witness intervened, and Stump fled, leaving his shoes on the scene.
Based on a description given by the witness, deputies identified Stump as a suspect. The other witness was not close enough to identify the attacker.
On Thursday, a deputy found Stump in the Havre-Hill County Library. He was wearing camouflaged shorts and he had minor scrapes on his feet and bruises on his upper chin, consistent with injuries that might be sustained from landing on knees, the deputy noted. He also had dried blood on his shorts, which Stump said was Kool-Aid, and later, candy. Stump’s shorts were seized and sent to the crime lab for analysis.
Deputies put together a photo lineup with 12 pictures including Stump’s. The witnesses identified Stump.
Stump was arrested Friday at 1:56 p.m.