Police Arrest 15-Year-Old J-Town Boy In Connection With Brutal Attack

From: WAVE, KY - Oct 19, 2004

By Maureen Kyle

(LOUISVILLE, October 19th, 2004, 6 p.m.) -- An elderly woman is lucky to be alive after police say she was brutally attack and robbed. The attack happened last Friday in Jeffersontown. At first, police suspected the woman's deaf husband. But they arrested someone else after the woman was able to identify her attacker. WAVE 3's Maureen Kyle reports.

The woman is recovering in a local hospital nearly a week after she was attacked and robbed at her home on Six Mile Lane.

Police arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the attack on Tuesday. Investigators now believe he's the one responsible for breaking into her home and cutting her throat.

Police asked that we not reveal the woman's identity because the investigation is still open and active. Meanwhile, friends and family are still recovering from the shock of the brutal crime.

Family friend Willard Browning stopped in Tuesday afternoon to check on the couple. "We've been friends for about 50 years," he said.

Browning was shocked when he heard the woman he's known for so long was the target of a robbery and brutal attack. "It is hard to believe because they don't bother anybody. They'd help them before they'd bother them, I'd guarantee you."

Metro Police were called to the home on Six Mile Lane on the afternoon of October 15th. The victim's husband -- who is hearing impaired -- didn't know anyone had entered the home, and didn't hear the attack. At the time police thought they were responding to a domestic call, and considered the husband a suspect.

But Officer Dwight Mitchell says her husband was ruled out as a suspect after the 83-year-old victim was able to tell police that her husband had nothing to do with her attack.

Mitchell says the woman was able to identify exactly who broke into her home. "Upon further investigation, we were able to determine that it involved a 15-year-old juvenile."

Some sources say the attacker is a neighbor of the victim, but police remain tight-lipped. "I will say they were acquaintances," Mitchell said. "I don't want to put any specifics on that, but they were acquaintances."

Police are still investigating and expect more breaks in this case.

Meanwhile, friends and family anxiously await answers as to what happened and who is responsible. Right now they're just glad that the woman who has given so much to others is going to recover.

"She's worked for the Red Cross for years," Browning said. "She travels all over, making arrangements for funerals, getting people to hospitals and so forth. They're nothing but good people."

The suspect has been charged with first degree assault, burglary and other related charges.

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