(The following story appeared in today's St. Albans Messenger)
Fairfax man brutally beaten; sister offers $5,000 reward
By LEON THOMPSON
Messenger Staff Writer
FAIRFAX — The family of a Fairfax man is asking for the public's help in discovering who severely beat him Tuesday evening and left him for dead.
Andy Naylor, 36, is awaiting surgery in Fletcher Alien Health Care today with multiple face and skull fractures, according to his sister Rebecca, who spoke to the Messenger via telephone this morning.
"My brother's face is disfigured," she said.
Rebecca said Andy Naylor was checking his mail in his truck at the end of his driveway when a group of men pulled up, smashed his window and pummeled his head and face.
Naylor remained unconscious for some time before he came to and sought help.
Emergency workers rushed him to the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans and then to Fletcher Allen, where he is in intensive care, said his sister.
Trauma doctors have told the Naylors that Andy's assailants likely beat him with a hammer or baseball bat, not their hands, Rebecca said.
"They left him there to die," Rebecca said. "Andy didn't see anyone, but he did hear voices."
Asked about a possible motive, Rebecca said her family has strong speculation about who beat Andy, because he recently served as a drug informant for police.
"We believe it has to do with that," Rebecca said.
Andy Naylor lives with his girlfriend, Kim, Rebecca said. He is a self-employed handyman.
Rebecca Naylor lives just outside of Boston, Mass., and is not in Vermont with her brother, because she is 36 weeks pregnant. She has personally offered a $5,000 cash reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Andy's attackers.
"I want something to be done," she said. •
Reached by telephone this morning, Vermont State Police Lt. Tom Hango, commander of the St. Albans barracks, said the case is under investigation. He declined comment until he could gather more information.