By David Doerr

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Two Mexia men accused of kidnapping and brutally assaulting an 18-year-old Tehuacana woman have been indicted and could go to trial as soon as December.

Last week, a Limestone County grand jury added attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery charges to the list of allegations against Javier Guzman Martinez and Noel Darwin Hernandez in their indictment for the June 28 attack. The two men were originally arrested a day after the attack on aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault charges.

Martinez, 18, and Hernandez, 22, also face two additional counts of aggravated sexual assault stemming from the same incident. The two are being held in the Limestone County Jail with bail set at $4 million each.

Limestone County District Attorney Roy DeFriend said the two will be arraigned Oct. 17. Pretrial proceedings are expected to begin in November, and the trial could start in Limestone County’s 77th District Court as soon as December, he said.

The woman was allegedly abducted by the two men as she was driving her sport utility vehicle about 2:30 a.m. to her home in Tehuacana, a small town just northwest of Mexia, investigators have said. The men allegedly forced her into their car, where they sexually assaulted and beat her and cut her with broken glass, according to affidavits.

The indictment alleges that Martinez and Hernandez cut the teenager with a broken bottle and attempted to strangle her.

Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson has said the ordeal lasted for more than two hours before the victim was left for dead on the side of a rural road. After the attackers drove off, the woman crawled and staggered a half-mile to the nearest house, where she was helped by the residents inside.

Tips generated from the victim’s description of the suspects led officers to Martinez, who was found at his Mexia residence on June 29. He confessed to officers and told them of Hernandez’s involvement, Wilson has said. U.S. marshals arrested Hernandez at the Waco Transit Center on the same day about 45 minutes before he could board a bus bound for Mexico.

Authorities have said Martinez, of Mexico, and Hernandez, of Honduras, are in the country illegally. DeFriend said Waco lawyers Jose Villanueva and Angel Gavito have been selected as court-appointed attorneys to represent Martinez and Hernandez, respectively. Villanueva and Gavito did not return phone calls seeking comment.

ddoerr@wacotrib.com

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