PORTLAND, Ore. — Editor's note: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence and injuries that may be disturbing to some readers.
A man arrested and charged after assaulting a 78-year-old man at a Gresham MAX platform in January 2023, chewing off part of the victim's ear and face, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison.
During a hearing on Thursday, the 25-year-old Koryn Kraemer pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree attempted assault. Kraemer will serve 40 months in prison, along with 20 months of post-prison supervision.
According to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, Kraemer has family out of state and may apply to serve his post-prison supervision there.
Kraemer will remain in custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections to serve the rest of his sentence. He was previously found unable to aid and assist in his own legal defense, according to court documents, and was sent to Oregon State Hospital in Salem for several months.
The attack happened at the beginning of January 2023, shortly after 2 a.m. on the Cleveland TriMet MAX platform area off Northeast 8th Street in Gresham. When officers arrived, they found Kraemer on top of an elderly man, Gary Wayne Krussow.
Gresham police said that Kraemer had torn off Krussow's ear and the skin on part of his face, revealing the man's skull. Gresham officers and Multnomah County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived and took Kraemer into custody.
Kraemer told investigators that he'd consumed alcohol, cannabis and fentanyl pills, according to the district attorney's office. He also said that he believed that the victim was a "robot" trying to kill him.
Kramer is the second-ever person to receive a permanent lifetime ban from TriMet. The first person to receive this ban was Jared Walter, a serial sex offender who has a history of cutting, gluing or masturbating into women’s hair on TriMet buses and trains.
