Police are searching for a suspect after a homosexual U.S. man was beaten unconscious and left nearly naked in the snow after telling another man about his sexual orientation at a central B.C. hot springs.
Police said the Dec. 29, 2010, incident near Nakusp, about 240 kilometres northeast of Kelowna, started when two gay men were sitting in a hot tub and were joined by a third man.
Once that man – the suspect, who police believe is named Terry – learned the other two men in the tub were homosexual, he is said to have informed his friends at the other end of the pool “that he was going to kill the two men,” according to RCMP Cpl. Bryson Hill. The victim’s partner fled to the bushes following the initial threat and left the victim alone.
“Unfortunately, the victim didn’t hear (the threat) or didn’t get out in time,” Hill said of the 48-year-old U.S. man.
“The beating lasted for a little bit of time, where it ended up about 50 feet away from the hot springs. The victim obviously attempted to get away, but was continually kicked and punched and pushed to the ground as he attempted to flee.
“He was essentially left unconscious in the snow, in his shorts and in a wilderness environment.”
Hill said there is no evidence to suggest the attack was motivated by anything other than homophobic hate.
He said the suspect’s friends – a man and a woman – were heard by the victim’s partner pleading for him to stop. Hill said they were not directly involved in the assault, although the three did leave the scene together on two snowmobiles following the assault.
Hill said the victim suffered bruising to most of his body and a cut on his nose.
He said the main obstacle for the victim and his 39-year-old partner, who is from B.C.’s Lower Mainland, is the emotional turmoil they will have to overcome.
“Physically, he’s fine,” Hill said of the victim. “All his wounds will heal . . . but the biggest scar he’s going to have is emotional, for both of them. You can only imagine the fear that one would have to go through to be beaten in the wilderness and left in the snow . . . disoriented and not even knowing where the hot springs were.”
Hill said the reason the incident wasn’t publicized earlier was because police were hoping to locate the suspect without going public to avoid further distress to the victim and his partner.
The suspect might have been visiting the region from the Calgary area. He is described as a white male, about 44 years old, with a muscular build and a flat-top hair style. The silhouette of a bird is tattooed on his chest.
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