Charges: Man was beaten, doused with bleach before being kidnapped in Anchorage

Update, 10:40 a.m. Sunday, July 22: Anchorage police say officers located Peter Calugan around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night in the 400 block of East 56th Avenue. According to a police update, he was taken into custody, questioned by detectives and transported to jail.

Original story:

Two men and a woman face kidnapping charges in Anchorage in connection with a bizarre case involving a stolen vehicle and a man being beaten, tased and doused in bleach, prosecutors say.

Damen Koso, 27, and Bonita Severian, 48, were arrested Friday night. A third man, 34-year-old Peter Calugan, was being sought by police Saturday evening.

Police have accused Koso and Calugan of physically assaulting and kidnapping a man named Jerry Haley. The episode began July 15, when Severian gave Haley her car keys when she was arrested on a series of bench warrants, according to a charging document written by Assistant District Attorney James Klugman. Severian asked Haley to take care of her vehicle, Klugman wrote.

That night, the vehicle was stolen, according to Klugman. Severian was upset she couldn't get the car back and asked people to help her recover it, including Koso and Calugan, according to Klugman. Severian posted pictures on her Facebook page of Haley and her car and promised a reward for both of them being brought to her.

Several days later, close to midnight on July 19, Severian ran into Haley at a store in Muldoon, Klugman wrote in the charges. She eventually brought Haley back to her house, where Koso and Calugan were waiting, the charges say.

Koso and Calugan demanded Haley tell them where the vehicle was, Klugman wrote.

"When Haley said he didn't know, (Koso and Calugan) began beating and kicking him: They then shocked him with a taser, poured bleach on him and made him strip naked," Klugman wrote.

The men told Haley the vehicle contained $10,000 that the men needed to pay a debt, according to Klugman.

Koso and Calugan then forced Haley into Koso's white pickup, threatening to kill him if he didn't go, the charges say.

As they were driving, Haley opened a window and jumped out of the truck at the intersection of Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road. He flagged down a construction worker and contacted police, Klugman wrote. He appeared to be covered in bleach.

Officers searched Severian's home and found Haley's backpack, a large amount of spilled bleach and Haley's clothing, which were drenched in bleach. There was also a substantial amount of drug paraphernalia, Klugman wrote in the charges.

In an interview with police detectives, Koso denied assaulting Haley and said he and Calugan had simply offered Haley a ride home, and that Haley had jumped out of the truck for no reason.

Severian told police detectives she had not participated in the assault on Haley and that she may have had bleach on the counter because she was washing dishes. She also claimed to have washed Haley's clothing because it was dirty.

"I don't understand how I kidnapped anyone, your honor," Severian told the judge at her arraignment Saturday afternoon.

Koso and Severian each face a count of kidnapping and conspiracy. The two being held on a total of $28,000 bail in both cash and corporate bonds.

Calugan had not been found as of Saturday evening. Police had obtained an arrest warrant.