Police have arrested two suspects in relation to an attack last month in the University area that left a UNM senior clinging to life.
According to an Albuquerque Police Department criminal complaint, on Aug. 11 as many as five people attacked Bryan Christensen, 22, in the alley near his apartment on Stanford Drive behind the Frontier Restaurant - just several hundred yards from campus.
A Crime Stoppers tip led to the arrest of David Sean Sprague, a 21-year-old Albuquerque resident, on Sept. 11 in connection with the beating.
Sprague's mother also called police on the same day to alert them of his possible involvement with the incident.
Sprague was later charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
APD Det. Jeff Arbogast said a second Crime Stoppers tip yesterday led police to another suspect - 21-year-old Joe DuFault.
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Police are still looking for as many as three suspects, including 20-year-old Zachary Walker.
According to the criminal complaint, Sprague, DuFault, Walker and others were in the parking lot behind the Frontier when they observed Christensen trying to break into a car - which was later confirmed to belong to Christensen.
Sprague said Walker and DuFault approached Christensen and began beating him, kicking him numerous times in the head and stomach.
The fifth person in the group, identified only as a Hispanic male, interrupted the beating and the group left.
Sprague said he and the other men left in Walker's car, only to return moments later to check on Christensen's condition.
The Hispanic man asked Christensen whether he was all right. The beaten student allegedly cursed at him, at which time the unidentified man began allegedly striking Christensen's head with his knee.
Sprague allegedly went home and told his mother about a fight he had been in. She washed his blood-splattered clothes and Walker disposed of his blood stained shoes days before she herself called police telling them that she believed her son was involved in the attack.
The complaint states the beating was so severe that the repeated kicking of Christensen left Walker with a dent in his steel-toed boots and that Sprague had to seek medical treatment later that night for injuries sustained to his foot during the attack.
Lynn Melton, UNM Hospital spokeswoman, confirmed that Sprague was treated and released for injuries on Aug. 11.
Shortly after the attack Christensen, an engineering student at UNM, was listed in critical condition for more than a week at UNMH and was released Wednesday.
He is reported to have lapsed into a coma during that time and underwent multiple brain surgeries.
Christensen, a 1999 graduate from Eldorado High School, played the trombone for the Sound Pack, a pep squad for Lobo basketball, and was a member of UNM's marching band for two years.
