BENTONVILLE -- A Fayetteville man was sentenced to a combined 80 years in prison Tuesday after he admitted to beating a Bella Vista woman so severely with a 2-by-4 that he broke her arms and legs.
"I was very active before this and now I can't do the things I did before he took away my independence and strength," the woman, Dusty Reins, said in a statement read by Byrnna Barnica, deputy prosecutor. "I have nightmares every night and can't sleep. I have flashbacks constantly and have [post-traumatic stress disorder] from this."
Reins described her attacker, Cody Anderson, as her "boogeyman" and said she was deathly afraid of him.
Anderson, 30, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted murder, battery and three counts of terroristic threatening. He was charged as a habitual offender.
Anderson was arrested Sept. 13, 2017.
Barnica told Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green that Anderson beat Reins with the board.
Bella Vista police officers found Reins in her home covered in blankets in a bedroom with a strong gasoline smell, according to court documents.
The bed was covered with blood, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Reins told police she had been in a relationship with Anderson, according to court documents.
Reins said she didn't know what to do when Anderson began beating her and that she tried crawling under her bed to get away from him.
Anderson beat Reins' left arm until the bone was sticking through the skin, and he "pulverized the other arm so badly that doctors had to rebuild it," Reins said in her letter.
Anderson poured gasoline in Reins' bedroom, according to the affidavit.
"Cody threatened to light me on fire and went around the room sparking the lighter over and over again, tormenting," Reins said in the letter read by Barnica.
Reins spent a month in the hospital and underwent five surgeries.
"At times, I wish that he had just finished what he started, but I am thankful I am alive even though he had done irreparable damages that cannot be reversed," Reins said in her letter.
The judge asked Anderson why he beat Reins.
Anderson said Reins had paperwork belonging to his dead grandmother. He described his attack on Reins as an interrogation to get answers for his great-grandmother and grandmother.
"I went by it the wrong way," he said.
Jay Saxton, Anderson's attorney, told the judge that Anderson believed Reins had something to do with the death of one of his relatives.
Anderson had a mental evaluation and was found fit to stand trial.
Green sentenced Anderson to 60 years in prison for attempted murder and 20 years for battery.
The sentences will be served consecutively. He will have to serve at least 20 years before he will be eligible for parole.
State Desk on 02/20/2019