Naked student held captive in warehouse, threatened with meat saw in Winona, Minn.

WINONA, Minn. (KMSP) - Two men are facing charges after allegedly holding a 19-year-old male college student captive in a warehouse, forcing him to strip naked, and assaulting him with a meat saw late Saturday night in Winona, Minn.

According to the criminal complaint, Winona Police were dispatched to the area of 2nd and Vine Streets on Sept. 13 around 2:30 a.m. on a report of a male college student “that had been assaulted and was naked.”  Officers said the victim was “crying hysterically” and standing on the corner with two friends holding flannel shirts around him.

The student reported he was on his way back to his dorm alone when he was approached by John Demaske, 45, and Abdirhahman Samatar, 34, who were yelling at him. The two allegedly grabbed the victim by his shoulders and brought him to a warehouse building on Laird Street where they made him strip naked and sit on a chair.

Suspects said victim stole from them

The victim said Samatar and Demaske asked him about some things they thought he had stolen from them. They then said something to the effect of “you don’t know the things we are going to do to you” and something about anally penetrating him. The student also told police Samatar "slapped him with an open hand once or twice," and that he felt like he had to cooperate or he was going to die in there.

Unlike the victim’s story, Samatar and Demaska told police that the victim was in the shop when they opened the door and “wanted to scare him.” Demaska said $400 was stolen from a bank bag in the shop two days prior, and that he initially suspected Samatar of the theft.

According to the complaint, Demaske said Samatar told the student to take off his clothes and forced him into a room where they turned on a meat saw and told the student “he was going to get cut.”

Demaske said he eventually told the victim to leave and he fled without his clothes. But the victim said he was kept in the warehouse for approximately 30 minutes before he took off running into the street yelling for help.

Search warrant uncovers machetes, porn, victim's clothes

Investigators found the victim’s jeans and boxer shorts at the warehouse. Photographs of the shop included a meat slicer, chest freezers, a knife block filled with knives, blood-stained white aprons, hardcore pornography, and machetes.

Multiple charges

Both suspects are being charged with false imprisonment, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, and terroristic threats.