COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A 64-year-old Kinderhook Township man has officially been charged with felony aggravated assault after a violent dispute over money left a 27-year-old victim in a medically induced coma.
According to court documents Branch County Sheriff’s deputies discovered Eduardo Castro-Lugo with a critical head injury on East Southern Road just after midnight Monday morning, after suspect Jeffrey Badgley reportedly attacked him with a baseball bat.
Badgley, who initially claimed he only used his fists, later admitted to striking the victim multiple times with a bat, prompting a search of his Huss Lea Lane home where investigators recovered a bloody baseball bat hidden in a basement closet.
Castro-Lugo, underwent emergency surgery at a Kalamazoo hospital for severe cerebral hemorrhaging and remains in critical condition as of this morning.
Following his arraignment on Tuesday Badgley remains held on a $500,000 bond for the 10-year felony charge.
A probable cause hearing on April 16 and a preliminary examination on April 23,
Praying for the family.