The preliminary hearing for a 50-year-old Hutchinson man arrested in October for a case that started in Reno County and ended in Saline County was bound over for trial Thursday for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and an additional count of aggravated battery. That count against William Runyon was added at the end of the preliminary hearing.
The victim testified to being friends with Runyon and being taken in his blazer for a ride as they often did. He says they ended up near a field on east G, east of Hutchinson.
He says both he and Runyon exited the Blazer and that is when he was then struck in the head by another individual he didn’t know. He woke up in the field with that man was on top of him holding a pipe to his throat. He again lost consciousness and the next thing he remembered was being in the back of Runyon’s blazer again where he was driven to Salina. He says he had duct tape around his hands, mouth and ankles. He says when he would try to take the duct tape off his mouth, that other man would strike him and tell him not to do that again. He says they ended up in field near Salina. He was then beaten some more and placed in the trunk of another vehicle. He says he eventually escaped that vehicle by pushing out the back seat. He says 25-year-old Thomas Beatty of Salina was driving that vehicle then let him go.
He says as a result of the beatings, his kidneys failed and he also suffered severe bruising of his ribs. He ended up in the hospital in Salina.
Beatty and 27-year-old Chivon Leon of Salina were taken into custody by Salina authorities in connection with the case after the victim reported to Salina Police that he had been abducted and beaten and face charges there. All this occurring back on September 19.
In the other case against Runyon, he’s charged with felony flee and elude and interference with law enforcement. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing in that case and entered a “not guilty” plea.
The flee and elude case involved sheriff investigators being on the lookout for Runyon since the kidnapping incident and occurred back on October 10, when he led law enforcement on a chase that ended when he fled the truck he was in near the scene of a fatal fire and was captured by Hutchinson Police Detectives.
Runyon will be arraigned in the kidnapping case on January 4 with both cases in front of Judge Trish Rose.