Updated at: 10/19/2009 11:09 PM | KSAX.com
By: Megan Brown
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Family Moving Forward after Rapist gets Life in Prison

BIG STONE COUNTY - Minn. - Not in her wildest dreams did Dawn Boyle imagine the man her family called a friend would turn out to be their worst nightmare.

“This was a total shock. I mean he would read stories to the kids. He would get down and play with them,” Boyle said. “He’d come over to visit and we’d all go swimming together.”

29-year-old Christopher Hyden was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 216 months for stabbing 27-year-old Dawn Boyle and raping and slitting the throat of her 6-year-old girl.

“During the sentencing, the judge actually held up two sheets of paper and that was the width of how close he came to killing us,” Boyle said.

The final verdict came after about two hours in the Big Stone County Courthouse, where Dawn’s now seven-year-old daughter faced the man who left her and her mother fighting for their lives.

“It was particularly heinous because there was a mother and daughter involved and what was particularly cruel was that the little girl was left alone basically to die out at the fairgrounds,” Big Stone County Attorney Bill Watson said.

That wasn’t stopping the six-year-old said to be much like a princess, a Barbie lover about to prove she was unbelievably brave.

“That little girl is the reason I’m here,” Boyle said.

“It was amazing that she basically made the attempt to take some steps to walk and get some help,” Watson said.

The six-year-old had played dead before walking nearly a mile to find help for her and her mother.

“She made sure he was gone and then she got up, and seen him drive by on the four-wheeler, so she hid behind a tree and then kept going,” Boyle said.

The little girl destined to survive soon found her mother fighting for her life. Both she and Dawn were soon transported to area hospitals where they were treated and eventually released.

“We’re putting it all behind us and moving on and trying to be a happy family,” she said. “Maybe take a family vacation or something.”

The family is finding consolation in the fact Hyden received the most serious penalty possible after he was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and first and second-degree attempted murder.

Written for the web by Megan Brown

mbrown@ksax.com