Hammer attack leads to attempted murder charge

LOGAN -- An Iowa man is accused of beating and severely injuring another man with a hammer in a Logan car wash last week.

Arthur Raymond Peppers, 63, of Donahue, Iowa, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, both felonies. The attempted-murder count is a second-degree felony that can result in up to nine years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to online court documents, Peppers was apprehended and jailed in Dalhart, Texas. He awaits extradition back to Quay County.

Peppers is accused of beating Justin Ramsey, who New Mexico State Police reported was transferred to a Lubbock, Texas, hospital in critical condition.

Ramsey’s address wasn’t listed in court documents, but Logan Police Chief Rodney Paris said he is not a resident of the area.

The attack occurred about 3 a.m. Feb. 14 at a car wash in the 1000 block of Martinez Street in Logan, reported Paris, who turned over the investigation to state police.

Much of the following information comes from an affidavit filed by New Mexico State Police officer Eric Fouratt.

Fouratt stated he found at the car wash a large pool of blood containing human organ tissue consistent with brain matter, plus a blanket, a shoe and one live round of ammunition. Blood splatters also were found on a wall and floor of a bay.

Fouratt wrote he was briefed by another officer who told him Ramsey sustained severe blunt trauma to the head and was unconscious. He was taken to Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari, then transferred to Lubbock.

A Logan police officer said a woman initially found a man, later identified as Ramsey, lying in the car wash. A surveillance video from a nearby building showed a recreational vehicle driving into the car wash bay shortly before the 911 call was made.

The RV was located and secured in Dalhart, and police identified Peppers as a suspect in the attack on Ramsey.

Peppers had been arrested in Dalhart on an unrelated charge of unlawful carrying of a firearm, and he was jailed. Bloodstains were found on the RV.

State police interviewed a witness, William Rice, who was walking along U.S. 70 near Mescalero when Peppers and Ramsey picked him up in the RV.

Rice said hours later he awoke when Peppers attacked Ramsey with a hammer.

“He described the sound of Arthur Peppers hitting Justin Ramsey’s head to that of an egg breaking,” the affidavit stated.

After the attack, Peppers drove to Dalhart. While stopping in Dalhart, Rice fled from the RV and called police. During a police interview in Dalhart, Peppers said he and Ramsey had been arguing for days about drugs and money.

Peppers said he attacked Ramsey with a 3-pound hammer as he slept, dragged him out of the RV and left him the ground, records show.

“When asked why he hit him in the head, Arthur Peppers stated it was to send him to a better place, then further clarified it was to send him to heaven,” the affidavit stated. “This implied Arthur Peppers understood his actions were to kill Justin Ramsey.”

A NMSP agent found a hammer in the RV covered in blood and hair.

No attorney for Peppers was listed in online court documents.