A Wheatland man formerly of the United Kingdom who was found unresponsive Saturday night inside a closed-down liquor store is alive, his girlfriend’s mother confirmed Tuesday to Cowboy State Daily.
Kain Rutherford is alive after being hurt and hospitalized following an altercation Saturday night, Destiny Parker told Cowboy State Daily.
Parker also confirmed that Rutherford has been in a relationship with her daughter.
She declined to comment further.
Rutherford's Facebook page says he lives in Wheatland and is from Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
Meanwhile, Platte County Attorney Doug Weaver on Monday charged Markus David Gallegos, 39, with aggravated burglary on the theory that Gallegos broke into the closed Big A liquor store Saturday night to attack another person.
Gallegos could face between five and 25 years in prison and up to $50,000 in fines if he’s convicted.
Nope, That’s Too Strong
The woman who’d called in to report Gallegos’ condition in the first place told the dispatcher that he’d left bottles of liquor in front of her home and she wanted officers to collect them, reportedly.
Minsaas arrived at her home, and there found bottles of alcohol spattered with blood: one bottle of Rumple Mints, 100 proof; and two bottles of Blue Ice, 100 proof.
The woman, a longtime bartender herself, noted that no bars in town carry those 100 proof liquors.
Meanwhile, a Platte County Sheriff’s Deputy had found blood on the north sidewalk of South Street.
Putting the two together, Minsaas noted that the Big A Liquor store on South Street had been shut down for years, but was still stocked.
Minsaas and the deputy went to the shuttered liquor store, and Minsaas noticed that the side glass door where the liquor drive-up window had been broken, “and appeared to have been burglarized.”
“Deputy (Ryan) Lee and I peered into the liquor store and observed a male lying on the floor,” wrote Minsaas. “The male was covered in blood and appeared to be badly injured.”
He was also unresponsive. His breathing was strained. His eyes appeared swollen shut and his face and head bore severe injuries, wrote the sergeant.
The men called for medical personnel.
The deputy and officer also found on the man a passport identifying him, says the affidavit.
The document says that a pair of black, rubber-like sandals lay nearby and liquor bottles were scattered across the floor. Some of the bottles on the shelf matched those found at the woman’s home.
“I knew (Gallegos) was not wearing any shoes when he was contacted before this,” wrote Minsaas.
Once Gallegos was released from the hospital and taken to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, a law enforcement agent (the affidavit doesn’t say which) interviewed him, and he admitted to being in the Big A liquor store and to having “a physical altercation with Rutherford,” says the document.
Wheatland Circuit Court Judge Wendy Curtis Palen after Gallegos’ Monday-afternoon initial court appearance set his bond at $50,000 cash only, his court file shows.
Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
