WELD COUNTY, Colo. — A Weld County man was sentenced after he was convicted of assaulting a woman he was dating and holding her captive with chains in his trailer before she was able to escape, the Weld County Sheriff's Office said Friday morning.
“He basically set up a murder room,” said Deputy District Attorney Amy Petri Beard with the 19th Judicial District Attorney's Office. “She believed she was going to die that night. She believed he was going to follow through with his plan to kill her. This is the plot of a horror movie, but it was a real-life nightmare for this victim.”
The defendant, Tory Hammond, 41, was sentenced to 96 years to life in prison on Thursday.
According to the facts presented in court, just after 6 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2021, patrol deputies with the Weld County Sheriff's Office responded to a call about suspicious activity on Weld County Road 6.
The 911 caller told authorities they had stopped on the road after seeing a naked woman walking with chains wrapped around her neck and arms, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies arrived, followed shortly afterward by detectives.
The woman provided a traumatic account of what had led to her current situation. She explained that she had been living with Hammond — whom she was dating at the time — in a semi-truck trailer. They had been seeing each other for about a month, according to the district attorney's office. The trailer was parked in an industrial lot near Highway 85 and Weld County Road 6.
"The victim reported Hammond held her against her will in the truck trailer, brutally sexually and physically assaulted her for several hours, and threatened her with a firearm," the sheriff's office said. "The victim recounted to detectives that Hammond placed a tow chain around her neck and wrists and attached the chain to a table."
At one point, Hammond used a power drill to drill into the victim’s leg, the district attorney's office said.
"Hammond fell asleep and the victim passed out after hours of trauma," the sheriff's office said. "She woke up and realized the tow chain was no longer secured to the table leg."
The woman ran from the trailer with the chains still wrapped around her. Good Samaritans who spotted her stopped to help and called 911.
Deputies went to the trailer and found Hammond in a vehicle outside. He was arrested. At the time of the attack, Hammond was on parole for an assault case out of Jefferson County and a stalking case from Boulder County.
Authorities obtained a search warrant for the trailer.
In April 2024, Hammond pleaded not guilty to 23 counts.
After a two-part jury trial in October 2025, he was convicted of several assault counts, sexual assault, felony menacing, retaliating against a witness or victim, and drug-related charges, court documents show.
On Thursday, Weld County District Court Judge Annette Kundelius sentenced Hammond to 96 years to life in prison.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it out of this alive,” the victim told the judge during Thursday’s sentencing. “When this happened, part of me was taken that I’ll never get back.”
Judge Kundelius told the defendant that the facts of the case were disturbing.
“What you’ve put her through — I don’t know that you can make up a worse story about what you’ve done to somebody. You are a danger to this community," she said.
Weld County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Capt. Matt Turner praised his office and the district attorney's office for the thorough investigation into this case.
"I am grateful to see it prosecuted to the fullest extent possible," he said. "Our thoughts remain with the victim, and we sincerely hope she can find comfort, closure, and continued healing now that this case has come to an end."
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