‘I made a deal with the devil’: Wanted man in custody, court docs detail grisly machete attack and alleged dismemberment

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence. Reader discretion is advised.

IDAHO FALLS — A Fort Hall man who has been wanted by police for almost two weeks after a bloody attack has been arrested.

Sean Michael Tindore, 28, was arrested by officers around 9:20 a.m. on Thursday, according to a Facebook post from the Fort Hall Police Department.

Sho-Ban News reports Tindore was arrested without incident at a home on Hawthorne Road and faces both federal and tribal charges.

Court filings say Tindore has been federally charged with assault causing serious bodily injury for dismembering a man’s hand with a machete.

Details in an affidavit of probable cause written by an FBI special agent say Fort Hall Police officers were dispatched to a home on West Sheepskin Road inside the Fort Hall Indian Reservation on April 4, around 6:18 a.m, for a call about a man who stated that his hand had just been cut off by Tindore.

Witnesses inside the house led police to a back bedroom, where the victim was lying on his back on a bed, “with his right hand severed below the wrist.”

Fort Hall Medical Services arrived, provided care, and transported the patient to Portneuf Medical Center.

Officers say they searched the home and the surrounding area for Tindore, but could not find him or the machete. They did, however, notice blood splatter on a wall in the back bedroom.

During interviews with witnesses, a woman stated that Tindore had come into the house and said he “had a bad night and he made a deal with the devil.” Tindore was reportedly carrying a metallic machete with a dark handle and punched another man in the head.

The witnesses said they tried to calm him down, but Tindore “proceeded to strike (another man) with the machete on (the man’s) left shoulder area, which caused a significant laceration.”

The woman told police that Tindore walked into the back bedroom, saw a female with the victim and became “erratic.”

Tindore then attacked the victim, allegedly cutting off his hand, as the witnesses say they tried to stop the assault. Tindore then reportedly left the room and ran out of the house.

The man with the lacerated shoulder was then transported to Portneuf Medical Center, where he told his side of the story.

He told police he received a phone call from a woman in the home, stating that Tindore had shown up visibly upset and holding a machete, continually asking “where they was at.”

The man drove to the home and was confronted by Tindore, who stated “You set me up, I seen you there.” The man offered Tindore a cigarette and looked down to grab a lighter from his pocket when Tindore reportedly swung and hit him in the shoulder with the machete.

Tindore stated again, “You set me up I seen you there,” and reportedly began to cry, before walking toward the back bedroom.

The man told police he grabbed a wooden stick in case Tindore attacked him again, and followed him to the bedroom. He said he heard Tindore strike the victim twice, and then heard a “very loud slapping noise” and “a bone break” before hearing the victim scream.

He then went into the room and saw the victim on the bed with his arms up in the air, and Tindore standing at the edge of the bed near the victim’s feet, holding the machete. He said he noticed the victim had cuts on his arms.

Tindore reportedly began to leave the room, stating repeatedly, “Let’s go.”

Officers initially wanted to interview the victim at the hospital, but learned he was in surgery to repair a “large laceration across his chin, a broken jaw, an open fracture of his right wrist, and a broken clavicle with a large open wound on his right side.”

On April 6, officers returned to the hospital and learned that surgeons were able to reattach the victim’s right hand.

The victim said he wasn’t sure how many staples and stitches he had to repair his chin, but “it was a lot.” He also told police that the broken clavicle occurred when he was struck with the machete.

Remembering the incident, the victim says he went to bed around midnight, and woke up to pain in his right arm and Tindore hitting him with “a machete or a bat.”

He told police he “saw his bone hanging” so he grabbed his phone to call 911 because he “was bleeding all over and thought he was going to die.”

He then saw Tindore standing at the end of his bed with a machete, and said he was hit a couple more times as he tried to kick Tindore away from him. Tindore then left the home, and the victim stated he did not know why Tindore attacked him.

Court hearings for Tindore have not yet been scheduled. If convicted on the federal charges, he could face up to 10 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines.

Though Tindore has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.