Jessica Owens carried a large stick and her friend, Vickie Gravett, was armed with a knife as they walked the popular Silver Comet Trail Friday, just days after a 42-year-old woman was brutally beaten.
While law enforcement agencies in the counties through which the trail passes say there is virtually no crime on the Silver Comet, Owens and Gravett still feel unsafe, especially after seeing photographs of the beaten, swollen, unrecognizable face of Tina Waddell.
“We don’t want that (the attack on Waddell) to deter us. But we won’t walk alone,” said Gravett, who also was walking with her 13-year-old son, Mason.
“I feel more at ease knowing we have protection,” she said moments after passing the crime scene tape that still marks the spot where Waddell was attacked Tuesday.
“We have protection in case something else was to happen,” she said. “We have sticks. We have knives on us. We’re well prepared…. It’s still a little bit creepy. We’re just a little paranoid now that, that happened (and) the person who did that, attacked that lady is still here, is still on the loose.”
There was very little foot or bike traffic on the trail in the section of the Silver Comet in Paulding County where Waddell was dragged off and beaten. Around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, a casual bike rider came up on her as she pulled herself up an embankment that dropped down to Vernoy Aiken Road as it passed under the tail.
Initially, Waddell was expected to have surgery Friday but her sister-in-law said it was cancelled because of the extensive swelling. But she is improving and conscous enough to make decisions for her care, Kristen Waddell said.
Tina Waddell's husband said the attacker broke every bone in his wife's face and her jaw will have to be wired shut for four to six weeks. Kristen Waddell said her sister-in-law has asked for a milkshake.
By Friday, Waddell’s parents, son and best friend have arrived from Arkansas, where she lived until she married in 2011. And they are refusing to leave her bedside at a Marietta hospital, Kristen Waddell said.
Tina Waddell's brother-in-law has opened an account at Sun Trust Bank to take donations for a reward; the account is Take Back the Trail for Tina. Her husband's family and her friends have organized a two-mile walk for Saturday at 10 a.m. on the trail from Tara Drummond Park and past the spot were she was attacked.
Signs of the attack were hard to spot three days later. The only evidence is in the trees far off the trail where yellow crime scene tape still marks off the area.
Owens, Gravett and the teenage boy came up on two deputies surveying the area. The women asked about the case and the deputies assured them that investigators were making progress, following leads.
A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office said there was no news to report, however.
Spokesman Cpl. Ashley Hensen said there is little, if any, crime on the trail. Most of the calls for help involve keys locked in cars.
But eight years ago, Jennifer Ewing, on her regular 50-mile ride on the trail. was knocked off her bike and dragged into some brush where she was raped and murdered. Her killer Michael Ledford, was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to die.
Memories of that have contributed to the fear some have today.
Cobb County, through which the trail also passes, said the only report of violence on the trail there involved some kids jumping on a middle-age man, who suffered minor injuries, five years ago.
There have been no reports of attacks in Polk County, where the 61.5 mile trail starts its trek south into Cobb and west through Paulding to the Alabama line where it connects with the 33-mile-long Chief Ladiga Trail.
The feel of the trail is of isolation but many places the trees and brush screen busy roads, businesses and subdivisions from walkers and bikers. The noise from passing cars reaches the trail in several locations.
Friday afternoon, there were few people using the trail though traffic usually picks up after regular work hours.
Except for the two women walking with the 13-year-old boy, all others using the trail Friday afternoon were men, most of them on bikes.
Dennis Deal, 63, came to the Tara Drummond Park where the trail passes for a walk early Friday afternoon said he feels “uneasy” but he still came.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my wife out here,” he added. “I see people (deputies) patrolling it. I don’t know how often they patrol. I would ask my wife not to come out here by herself.”
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