A 65-year-old woman who was beaten unconscious and robbed in her DeKalb County home last week shared the terrifying details of the attack Monday.
“I thought to myself, ‘There’s no way I am going to get out of this alive,’” survivor Lisa Holland told Channel 2 Action News.
DeKalb police are asking for help identifying the suspect who attacked Holland in her home Wednesday evening, robbing her of several valuables and leaving her with serious injuries to her head and face.
The attack happened on Bowling Green Way, just off Chamblee Tucker Road near I-285, a DeKalb police spokesman said. The suspect, described as a tall man in his late 30s or early 40s, was wearing a dark skullcap, dark jacket and dark-colored pants. He was not wearing a mask, police said.
According to the initial investigation, Holland was attacked just after she arrived home around 7:30 p.m. She was returning after visiting family and running errands, she told Channel 2.
“I noticed the cat was acting kind of funny — like she heard somebody or something,” Holland said. “And then I heard some steps coming down the hall toward my bedroom. So I started to get up, and then I heard something fall in the den.”
Holland, a grandmother who has twice survived cancer, left her bedroom and came face to face with the man, leading to a physical altercation.
“I tried to struggle with him, and he got back behind me, so I couldn’t see him, and he was kind of holding me down. And I really thought he was going to rape me,” Holland told the news station.
She tried to scream for help, but the man began hitting her. From that point on, Holland doesn’t remember much.
“After that, I must’ve blacked out. The next thing I remember — I had walked over across the street to my neighbor’s house, and I knocked on their door, and they called 911,” Holland said.
After Holland escaped to her neighbor’s house, the man was able to leave with her purse and other valuable items, police said.
Holland was taken to the hospital and has since been recovering at a family member’s house. She suffered a broken jaw and other facial fractures, Channel 2 reported.
Asked how the man was able to get inside her house, she said she left her door unlocked.
“I made the mistake. I got in, left the door cracked. I thought the cat was going out,” Holland said.
“I really want to catch the guy. I really want to do whatever, so it doesn’t happen again,” Holland said.
Investigators were able to track Holland’s phone to a location in Norcross, but the signal led them to a landfill, according to Channel 2.
Police are asking anyone with information about this incident to call Tucker precinct detectives at 678-937-5340 or Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
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