Elderly Woman Attacked by Intruders
Two intruders broke into an elderly woman's home in Smithton Saturday morning and attacked her while demanding money.
KDKA
Smithton (KDKA) – Two intruders attacked an 83-year-old woman while she slept in her Westmoreland County home early Saturday morning.
They threatened her and demanded cash, but she pushed the button on her Life Alert bracelet during the struggle with the two men and she believes it saved her life.
The home invasion happened around 4 a.m. on Barren Run Road in Smithton.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, said two men broke in, put a pillow over her face and tried to rob her.
After living in the home for decades, she is now living in fear after waking up with one of the intruders on top of her.
“I couldn’t see. He said, “We want money, we need money, we need money.” When I pushed my Life Alert [button], he pulled this off of me and threw it and the cops found it somewhere on the other side of the bedroom,” the woman said.
The Life Alert decal is prominently displayed on her door. The signal from the bracelet had state police there in minutes.
Police discovered that the robbers broke in through a window after removing an air conditioning unit.
They then went up to the woman’s second floor bedroom and woke her up.
“[I thought] that I was going to die. I kept telling them ‘I’m dying, I’m dying. I have a real bad heart, I’m done.’ He had me down and I could not breathe. And when he threw this away, I didn’t even know they left, he left the pillow on my face. He left so fast and I was afraid to come downstairs because I thought they were down here,” the woman said.
The suspects fled through the front door.
Investigators were able to gather some clues at the scene and are now tracking down the assailants.
The woman hasn’t found anything missing from her home so far, but relatives stayed with her Saturday night.
A description of the suspects has not been released at this time.