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71 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, August 3, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 30, 2004 Trail attack suspect receives 7 years By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Trying to kill his friend’s father has landed a Trail man in prison for more than seven years. Travis Donald Asbill, 22, of the 500 block of Takelma Drive, pleaded guilty Thursday in Jackson County Court to a charge of attempted murder. He received the minimum sentence of seven years and six months required for the crime under Oregon’s mandatory sentencing law. Asbill admitted to shooting and stabbing 48-year-old Ronald Burton Ragsdale at a trailhead off Crowfoot Road at about 4 a.m. on Nov. 4. Ragsdale could have died if Eric Sheldrake, a Mail Tribune delivery driver, hadn’t spotted him lying in a ditch on the side of the road. As Sheldrake called 9-1-1, Ragsdale named Asbill as his attacker. "I can’t figure out why he did it," Ragsdale said after Asbill’s sentencing Thursday. "I’ve known him forever." Asbill likely was in the grip of a methamphetamine-induced psychosis compounded by a lack of sleep when he committed the crime, attorneys said. Asbill had claimed he was being followed by black trucks and helicopters, his friends told police. Advertisement Asbill went to a friend’s house the night of the attack, took the family’s green Honda Civic and went out looking for a fight with a long-time enemy, Detective Colin Fagan of the Jackson County sheriff’s department said. When Asbill couldn’t find that man, he turned his attention to Ragsdale, who had been sleeping in his station wagon parked off Crowfoot Road, Fagan said. Ragsdale got out of his car when he heard the Honda driving around in circles, Fagan added. Gunshots hit Ragsdale in the ear and the chest. He ran across the road into a copse of trees but fell, breaking his right arm. Asbill caught up and stabbed Ragsdale several times in the back but suddenly ran off, leaving Ragsdale to crawl for his car, Fagan said. Spotting headlights from the newspaper delivery van, Ragsdale feared Asbill had returned and rolled off the road, Fagan added. Hearing that police had found a body in their town, Asbill’s family showed up at the scene of the attack looking for him. Detectives said they needed to talk to Asbill, and his mother brought him to police a short time later, Fagan said. Asbill confessed the crime, but investigators never recovered the weapons, which Asbill said he tossed into a pond. However, Ragsdale’s blood was found on Asbill’s sweatshirt. The knife punctured Ragsdale’s lung and penetrated his liver, said prosecutor Karen Loomis, adding that bullet fragments remain in Ragsdale’s body. Ragsdale said he still battles an infection in his right arm, which might have to be amputated. "It is absolutely amazing that he didn’t die," Fagan said. Loomis agreed to dismiss a related felony charge against Asbill of tampering with a witness. Several months after the attack, Asbill wrote Ragsdale’s son from jail, asking him to convince his father to blame the crime on someone else, Loomis said. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times