Irving Police say they are trying to find a 49-year-old woman who they say kidnapped and stabbed an 85-year-old woman.
Irving Police say they are trying to find a 49-year-old woman who they say kidnapped and stabbed an 85-year-old woman.
Investigators say the victim and her husband returned to their home in the 3200 block of Oceanview Street around 9:10 p.m. Friday night.
That's when they noticed the suspect, 49-year-old Lesia Ann Coco sitting on the front porch.
Officers say Coco is a former caregiver of the disabled husband, and got into the victim's car and told her she had knowledge of where some missing jewelry was.
As the victim started driving, Police say Coco pulled out a knife and told the 85-year-old woman this was a robbery.
The victim started honking the horn, trying to attract attention. That's when Coco started stabbing the woman with the knife.
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The victim's daughter-in-law, Gail Simmons says her mother-in-law's faith may have just spared her life.
"She (Coco) asked do you go to church? And my mother-in-law said yes," said Simmons. It was a conversation she says her mother-in law had with her attacker after being tortured for an hour.
Simmons shared pictures of her mother-in law's injuries that included a badly bruised, knife scraped arm and a slash on her jaw. "I don't understand how people can live with themselves after they do something like this to an older person, it's very sad," she said.
The victim was repeadedly stabbed, punched and threatened. "This is a robbery and I'm going to kill you and I'm going to come back for your husband," Simmons said Coco told her mother-in-law.
They were chilling words, but not powerful enough for the victim. Her family says even though she was beaten and bloody, she started singing and used her own words of faith to convice Coco to let her go. "She (Coco) said I don't think there's a God and she (victim) said oh yes there is and she (Coco) said well than I won't kill you," Simmons said of the conversation between her mother-in-law and her attacker.
"That maybe changed her heart in the midst of everything," said Simmons.
It was at that moment that Coco allegedly got out of the victim's car in Arlington and took off running. Employees at the Quick Trip where they stopped called 911. The victim remains hospitalized, but her family says she's in good spirits.
Anyone with any information about where Coco may be located is ask to call the Irving Police Department at (972)273-1010.
