A Wisconsin man convicted of beating and leaving for dead a woman with ties to the Bismarck area was sentenced Monday.

David Michael Larsen, 39, was sentenced in Racine County District Court to 37 years in prison followed by 21 years of supervised release.

In January 2004, Larsen kidnapped his ex-wife, Teri Jendusa-Nicolai, and their two daughters, ages 4 and 6. He beat her with a baseball bat and left her for dead in a sealed garbage can in an Illinois storage unit.

Jendusa-Nicolai was in the can for 26 hours with her mouth taped shut and her ankles and wrists bound.

Temperatures dropped to 17 degrees that night. Her attacker had removed her shoes and socks, causing her to lose all of her toes to frostbite. She also miscarried the baby she was carrying at the time.

Larsen had left the two daughters with a baby sitter during the attack.

Jendusa-Nicolai was finally found when a facility manager walked by the storage unit and heard her screams.

She is married to Dave Nicolai, who was born and raised in Bismarck. The couple had been married four months at the time of the abduction.

Nicolai's parents, John and Lorraine, still live in Bismarck. John Nicolai is a retired Trinity Lutheran Church pastor.

They said their daughter-in-law has recovered from her injuries rather well. She can walk without crutches and drive, but cannot be on her feet for extended periods of time or use stairs.

The family was pleased with the sentence.

"Having him in jail lets Teri live without fear," Lorraine Nicolai said.

They also said she is in good spirits and has used her negative experience to help others. She travels speaking at schools, social service organizations, churches and other places, telling about her experience with domestic violence.

"Even right after this happened, she said she was going to make something good out of something bad," Lorraine Nicolai said. "She's very open about it and shares her story with social services, churches and places like that."

John Nicolai said people in the Bismarck area have been concerned about his daughter-in-law's recovery.

"There isn't a day that goes by that someone around here doesn't ask how Teri is doing," Nicolai said. "She was just a young lady raising her kids, and all of a sudden this happened and was national news."

Since he took his daughters over state lines, Larsen also faces federal kidnapping charges. He will be sentenced on Friday and could get up to 10 more years in prison.

(Reach reporter Katie Brown at 250-8225 or katie.brown@;bismarcktribune.com.)