By Cindy V. Culp

Tribune-Herald staff writer

LIMESTONE COUNTY — An 18-year-old woman who was brutally assaulted and left for dead along a rural road here may be able to go home from the hospital as early as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson said the woman’s father told county officials Friday that she remained in stable condition at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. She was scheduled to undergo several medical procedures that afternoon, he said, but was doing well.

A friend of the victim said friends and family are praying for strength — for the woman and for themselves — in dealing with their shock and anger over her assault.

“She is an all-American girl,” the woman said, adding that friends and family are trying to respect the victim’s privacy by not talking to the news media about her ordeal.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the assault — 17-year-old Javier Guzman Martinez and 22-year-old Noel Darwin Hernandez, both of Mexia. Each is charged with one count of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated sexual assault.

Bond for each charge has been set at $1 million for each man, Wilson said.

Limestone County District Attorney Roy DeFriend refused to immediately release affidavits that were filed to support the arrests of the two men. Under state law, such documents are considered public once the warrants are executed.

The woman, who lives in Tehuacana and graduated from Mexia High School in May, was flown to the hospital early Wednesday after being beaten, stabbed and sexually assaulted. She told Limestone County law enforcement authorities that she was driving west on State Highway 171 about 2:30 a.m. and was about two miles from home when a car rammed her sport utility vehicle and forced her off the road.

The two men in the car then forced the woman into their vehicle and proceeded to assault her while driving around county roads, Wilson said. About two hours later, they left her in a ditch by the side of Farm-to- Market Road 1951, just south of Coolidge. She pretended to be dead till they left, then walked and crawled a half-mile to the nearest home for help.

The homeowners, who happened to be volunteer firefighters, called authorities who began investigating immediately, Wilson said. They were quickly able to identify three crime scenes — the ditch where the woman had been left; the site on Highway 171 where her vehicle was abandoned; and another location where some of the victim’s clothing was found. To help process those scenes, officials requested help from Department of Public Safety crime labs in Waco and Austin, Wilson said. Officers then hit the streets to try finding the two men, based on a description the woman gave while at the hospital.

“It was good old-fashioned police work,” he said. “They went to every beer joint, every local hangout, every place that they could think of that someone would go.”

That canvassing paid off with a woman calling about 6 p.m. Wednesday with a tip, Wilson said. The woman, who asked that her identity be kept secret, said she had just had a conversation with a man who might have information about the attack. Mexia police immediately went to the location where the woman said the man was, found him and took him back to their station, the sheriff said.

When deputies questioned the man in custody, Javier Guzman Martinez, of Mexia, he admitted he had been involved in the attack, Wilson said. He told authorities the other person involved was Noel Darwin Hernandez, also of Mexia, saying he was being taken to a Waco bus station by a friend, Wilson said.

Limestone County authorities then called the U.S. marshals task force in Waco, Wilson said. Its members conducted a stakeout at the Waco Transit bus station at 301 S. Eighth St. and arrested Hernandez at about 9 p.m. Wednesday. Wilson said the man was allegedly trying to get out the country.

“Everyone from every agency involved rolled up their sleeves, and we just got after it and got some lucky breaks,” he said.

The investigation continued Friday, Wilson said. Hernandez was questioned by a Spanish-speaking Texas Ranger before being transferred from McLennan County to Limestone County. Martinez also was further questioned by authorities, Wilson said.

Limestone County officials also worked with immigration authorities in Austin to place a hold on the two men, Wilson said. Both are in the United States illegally, he said, with Hernandez being from Honduras and Martinez from Mexico.

The hold means that, even if the two men posted bond on the charges they face, they will not be released because of their immigration status, Wilson said.

Wilson said there still is a lot of work to be done on the case. One thing in particular that he wants to do, he said, is talk with state crime lab officials about whether there are unsolved crimes with a similar modus operandi.

“I’m telling you they intended to kill this girl,” Wilson said of the two men described by the victim. “I really don’t think it was these guys’ first time to do something like this.”

At this point, Wilson said he doesn’t know what motivated the men to attack the woman. He stressed that she did not know them.

Apparently, Wilson said, the men followed the woman as she left Mexia after a night of visiting with friends. An employee at a local video store said the men approached the woman and her friends outside the shop earlier in the evening and followed her as she left.

The strip mall where the video store is located is cater- corner from a business called Mi Tierra Meat Market, where the men apparently worked. Three employees confirmed the men had jobs there, but they referred comment to a manager, who did not make himself available for an interview Friday.

cculp@wacotrib.com

757-5744