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MIDVALE -- Police found a man bound and gagged at the same motel in Midvale where a man was taken from and nearly killed in Grantsville last week.
Police are looking into whether there's a connection between the two crimes.
Around 12:30 p.m. Thursday maids at the Motel 6 in Midvale near 7200 S. Catalpa Road heard screaming coming from one of the rooms.
"A male was heard screaming inside the room, something to the effect, ‘I'm going to kill you,'" said Midvale Police Sgt. Marcelo Rapala. "The maids heard this, contacted the manager, and the manager contacted us."
When officers arrived just before 1 p.m., they found a man bound and gagged in the bathroom. The man also had a belt tied around his neck, and police told KSL he had been left for dead.
The man's injuries were so severe his heart stopped on the way to the hospital. Paramedics were able to revive him, but the man is now in a medically-induced coma.
"One of the things that was concerning is that his airway had been cut off with that belt around his neck, and we were concerned the oxygen intake to his brain may have been deprived for a while," said Sgt. Marcelo Rapala with the Midvale Police Department.
Police say the man's wife reported him missing Wednesday night and was convinced that he had been abducted. She told police her husband had been involved with some kind of a confrontation with some men in December.
The victim did have a drug arrest in the past, but nothing else is known about him at this time.
Police are looking for a man and a woman who may be involved in this case. Wednesday night, the front desk called the room where the man was found, and they say a woman answered and told the manager they would not be staying another night. A man's voice could be heard in the background.
Again, police are investigating whether or not this case is related to the kidnapping from this motel last week.
On Jan. 7, a man was kidnapped from the Motel 6 in Midvale and taken to a remote area in Grantsville. There, the kidnappers said they were going to kill him for his testimony against a man who attempted to run over a police officer in October.
The man was able to escape and get help from a nearby resident.
Police have made three arrests in that case.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
