Beating Victim Most Regrets Attackers Cut Her Hair Woman Was Stripped, Beaten And Robbed By Six Or More People Near Newman Lake

Taunya Gardella was robbed, beaten and left naked in the woods Wednesday. But she’s most upset that her attackers cut off her long brown hair.

“Out of all of this, the worst is that my hair is all gone,” the 22-year-old woman said. “I wish they’d have just beaten the hell out of me.”

Gardella was found stumbling through woods near Newman Lake on Wednesday, trying to find help after having been stripped, beaten and robbed by at least six people.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies said Gardella was forced from a Post Falls house where she was staying late Tuesday. The kidnappers took her to a Spokane home, then blindfolded her and drove her to a wooded area north of the Spokane Valley.

After the assault, Gardella heard sounds of construction nearby and walked barefooted to a logging area where men from Kemp West, a Deer Park logging company, were working.

She had managed to partially cover herself with a cloth she had found in the woods.

Gardella was treated and released at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene for bruises, cuts and sprains.

She knows her attackers and was able to give their names to detectives.

She also identified several men and women who had witnessed the assault. Search warrants were being issued late Thursday for suspects, sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick said.

Gardella said her attackers were seeking revenge because they believed she had turned in a mutual friend to police on drug charges.

She said she told the women who took her from the house and drove her to Spokane early Wednesday that she didn’t do that.

They watched over her at a home on East Cataldo before gagging her, picking up a couple of men, then driving her to the Newman Lake area.

On the way, they cut off her hair, Gardella said.

She recalled begging them, “Please don’t cut off my hair. Please don’t cut my hair.”

They drove her to a densely wooded area, where two women cut off her clothes, beat her and taunted her.

“They were just psychotic,” Gardella said.

Finally, after taking her wallet, all six suspects drove off. Gardella walked through the woods for several minutes until she heard saws.

Kevin Oxrieder, 26, was cutting brush away from power lines when he saw Gardella.

Oxrieder gave Gardella his shirt and then drove her to a nearby gas station, where he called for help.

“It really just blows my mind that someone could do this,” he said Thursday.