An Iowa man is behind bars after police say he struck a woman with a hammer 10 times during an assault that happened a decade after he carried out a similar attack.
Brian Andrew Huckfeldt, 40, is facing charges of attempted murder and first-degree assault in connection with the incident, which happened Tuesday in Des Moines.
Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek told WHO-TV that the victim returned home from work to find Huckfeldt in her bedroom. Two days earlier, the woman told Huckfeldt not to come back to her property following a separate incident, Parizek said.
The woman told police she and Huckfeldt got into an argument, during which he struck her in the head and legs with a hammer at least 10 times, causing lacerations, bruising and swelling.
During the assault, Huckfeldt allegedly told the victim he wanted to kill her. The attack left the woman permanently disfigured, police said.
Huckfeldt fled the scene but was spotted by medics who were transporting the woman to the hospital, Parizek said. He was still armed with the hammer, and pepper spray was used to take him into custody.
Huckfeldt is also charged with first-degree burglary and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as violating a no-contact order in a separate case from 2022. He's being held in the Polk County Jail.
It turns out the incident doesn't mark the first time Huckfeldt has used a hammer to attack a woman.
In 2013, he was arrested after attacking his then-girlfriend. During the assault, Huckfeldt sprayed the woman with a chemical deterrent, choked her and hit her on the head with a hammer, the Des Moines Register reported.
The attack happened inside a pickup truck that was in a parking lot. Two men who heard the victim's screams ran to the truck and pulled the bloodied 30-year-old woman out, the newspaper reported. Huckfeldt fled the scene and was arrested days later after leading police on a chase.
The woman suffered a concussion, some broken ribs, a fractured shoulder, and had 20-staples in her head, WHO-TV reported. Huckfeldt was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to domestic abuse assault by use of display of a dangerous weapon, false imprisonment and eluding. He was released in Feb. 2015.
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