Elizabethtown Man In Critical Condition After Assault

A man has been sent to the hospital in critical condition from the personal injuries he suffered in a beating, according to police.

Bladen County Sheriff’s deputies say they received a call at approximately 7 a.m. on April 19 regarding a man in a ditch alongside Owen Mill Road in Dublin.

According to Bladen County Sheriff Steve Bunn, 61-year-old Elizabethtown resident Nash Wilkins had been severely beaten with a blunt object and suffered injuries to his head, back, and torso.

Wilkins received transport to Bladen County Hospital and was later transferred to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

Bunn said that Wilkins was in critical condition and it was unknown if he would survive.

Police arrested 32-year-old Elizabethtown resident Herman Cruz at about 3 p.m. later that same day and charged him with attempted murder.

Bunn said that on April 18, the two men were drinking that afternoon when they began to argue and Cruz allegedly beat Wilkins with a baseball bat.

According to Bunn, Wilkins walked away from the area, refusing assistance from those at the home where the men were drinking. He was found the following morning in the ditch, a few hundred feet from where the assault took place.