Therese Garcia, Crestline, California woman beaten with baseball bat by Erik Eduardo Navarro after taking in transient man who had turned up to her home only for the stranger to assault her when she told him almost a week later that it was time to leave. Grandmother is left hospitalized as San Bernardino authorities seek to arrest wanted man.
A 71-year-old California woman was nearly beaten to death by a young man after she had welcomed the stranger into her home after turning up to her at her front doorstep claiming all his belongings had been stolen.
Therese Garcia, 71, of Crestline, CA., opened her Crestline home to Erik Eduardo Navarro, 26, of Orange County, after the random man turning up to her home saying he needed a place to stay ahead of an upcoming job interview, according to her family.
Garcia took him in, cooked for him every night and came to believe he was a ‘sweet kid’ down on his luck.
Stranger viciously turns on grandmother after asking him to leave a week after arriving
After two weeks, Navarro began ‘making demands and taking over her home,’ the family said.
Garcia then allegedly told Navarro on Aug. 25, six days after having taken in the stranger that it was time to leave. The request only triggered the transient.
Navarro allegedly took up a metal baseball bat later that evening and began clubbing Garcia while she was sleeping. The vicious assault is alleged to have taken place over the course of ‘several hours,’ the VictorVille Daily Press reported citing officials.
Navarro is alleged to only have stopped beating the woman after believing he had killed her.
Stated a GoFundMe on behalf of Garcia:
‘She was in and out of consciousness, and every time she woke up, he would beat her again. This lasted for hours. He stopped only after she completely lost consciousness and apparently believed she was dead. He then took her phone, credit cards, keys, E-bike, and other belongings and fled.’
The attacker also repeatedly kicked the woman, officials said.
Assault leaves 71-year-old Crestline woman with horrific injuries as cops seek wanted man
The 71-year-old woman’s injuries were horrific according to a release.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said Garcia suffered ‘a laceration to her forehead, cut eyebrow, swollen hands, and swollen orbital area to the point she was unable to clearly see.’
In addition, the family said she spent days vomiting blood and may now need facial surgery.
As of the GoFundMe’s posting this week, Garcia remains in hospital. The family says she is medically stable and is taking small steps. But she does not have health insurance and is ‘still in immense pain, extremely dizzy, exhausted, and struggling with the effects of her brain injury.’
Navarro, whom police consider a suspect, has not been located. He fled the scene after the alleged assault. The incident is being considered a Battery with Serious Bodily Injury.
His picture has been released, showing Navarro with brown hair and brown eyes.
Police urge anyone with information to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Twin Peak Station at 909-336-0660.
Anyone wishing to help the grandmother can donate to her GoFundMe.
‘Please keep my mom in your prayers. Pray for her healing, her strength, her vision, her recovery, and for the person responsible to be found,’ the family wrote. ‘We are incredibly grateful that she is still here. She survived the night she was left to die. Now we just want to give her every possible chance to heal.’
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