Michael and Michelle McIntyre came to the Sturgis motorcycle rally for a good time but instead found a bout of bad luck.
Or so they said.
The Oil City, Pa., couple told the Rapid City Journal on Sunday that they were victims of a random act of violence on Aug. 6, when an unknown man attacked Michelle and stabbed Michael outside their tent in Sturgis.
The couple both said they turned their lives over to God after benefiting from the generosity of the area's community members.
"I lost all faith in mankind, and since we’ve come out here, it’s changed my outlook on mankind," Michael McIntyre said. "There was a reason why we came out to Sturgis. It was a whim, but somebody was guiding us."
What they failed to mention is that Michelle McIntyre was a suspect in her husband's stabbing and was initially charged with aggravated assault for the crime, according to Meade County State's Attorney Kevin Krull.
He dismissed the case against the wife Aug. 7.
"We did charge the wife the night before, but then, we got about six different stories from the two parties and determined that a case against the wife is not something that we could prosecute," Krull said.
Michael McIntyre was not giving up much about the attack, which was investigated by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.
"He proved to be not a very good witness," Krull said.
Sturgis Police Chief Jim Bush said that during the motorcycle rally, he gives the investigations of all serious crimes to DCI.
With no more leads, Krull said the case has been closed.
"It’s closed. We considered potential false reporting charges but decided not to charge that," he said.
After the stabbing, the Hellfighters, a Christian biker ministry, helped the McIntyres find a place to stay at Cornerstone Rescue Mission in Rapid City, Michelle McIntyre said Sunday in an interview with the Journal.
Through the mission’s connections and a spot on a local television station, the McIntyres received new tires for Michael’s motorcycle, helmets and a tune-up from Black Hills Harley-Davidson.
A woman paid $145 for a week's stay at the Castle Inn in Rapid City, and another woman offered to set the couple up with free housing in Sturgis while Michael recovered from his injury until they could ride home, Michelle McIntyre said.
Michelle McIntyre praised the community and the help of law enforcement agencies during her telephone interview Sunday.
“It’s been a life-changing experience for us,” she said. “We’ve both decided to turn our life over to God and change our ways.”
But Michael and Michelle McIntyre stopped answering phone calls from the Journal and did not show up for a scheduled meeting with a reporter and a photographer at the Castle Inn on Wednesday afternoon.
Dustin Eggleston, a part-time caseworker for the mission, was unaware that Michelle was a suspect in the stabbing when he contacted Black Hills Harley-Davidson and the local news media on their behalf.
“It’s kind of sad to hear that the stabbing might have been by her,” said Eggleston, who started working at the mission about two weeks ago.
Al Rehman, the president of Black Hills Harley-Davidson, said it is difficult to say if his company would have donated between $500 and $1,000 worth of gear and services to the couple if they would have known the wife was initially a suspect.
“If we knew all that, I might have looked at it differently,” he said.
Contact Holly Meyer at 394-8421 or holly.meyer@rapidcityjournal.com.
