A 68-year-old woman is recovering but relieved over the arrest of her alleged robber. The woman was held at knifepoint in her home early this morning. And tonight, police say it was a slip-up near the crime scene that helped lead them to the suspect. NBC 5’s Meredith Yeomans explains.
A man wanted after a home invasion and aggravated robbery in a White Settlement senior living apartment complex early Friday morning has been arrested.
The suspect, 21-year-old Francisco Avila, was arrested Friday afternoon after investigators linked a cell phone found at the scene to Avila, according to police.
White Settlement Police Chief Chris Cook said a neighbor noticed the phone with its flashlight on lying near a fence and called police.
Detectives traced the phone to its owner, Avila, who lives at a complex next to the victim, according to Cook.
When police arrived at the complex, they say they noticed a man wearing clothes similar to the suspect in surveillance video recovered from the complex where the home invasion happened hours earlier.
Cook said police responded to a "frantic 911 call from an elderly woman that said she needed police and medical. She had reported that an unknown man had entered her unlocked apartment.”
It happened in the 8400 block of Tumbleweed Trail at the Oak Timbers Apartment Complex on Friday Nov. 8, at around 3:24 a.m.
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“When she was asleep, she woke up feeling some pressure on her throat, it startled her, she realized it was a knife, and out of a defensive posture, pushed it back but she severed her hand pretty bad. There was a lot of blood where she was lying and in the apartment," Cook said.
The property is a senior living community and the victim is a woman is 68 years old, police said.
“She just kept pleading with him not to hurt her and for him to take whatever he wanted and he did run out of the apartment," Cook said. “The suspect told her as he was leaving to wait at least 10 minutes before you call anyone.”
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A police supervisor that was already at the complex doing residential patrol when the call was dispatched immediately made his way to the scene.
The victim was taken to the hospital for her injuries but was released and surrounded by family Friday evening, according to an update from Cook.
White Settlement PD posted surveillance video online, showing a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and light-colored gloves, trying to open front doors near the victim's apartment before finding her door unlocked, and slowly entering.
"We rarely have any calls for service at this particular complex, so we’re pretty shocked," Cook said, adding that the property is safe.
Apartment Manager Heather Glanton said they make sure to keep the front gate, and all walking gates, locked.
"I don’t allow delivery drivers in if I don’t have residents—if they haven’t given them their personal gate code. Or if I don’t have permission from the resident or I call and I can’t get ahold of them—I don’t let them in," she said.
Police believe the suspect scaled a fence to get in and out. Police believe Avila may have dropped his cell phone while while fleeing the robbery.
Avila was detained on an unrelated charge in the Westlake Gardens Apartment Complex while he was walking around the complex. Officers believe Avila may have been looking for the mobile phone that was lost around the original crime location.
Cook said police obtained a search warrant for Avila's apartment and found key evidence including the victim's cash inside.
He says a tv stolen from a neighbor at Avila's complex while the neighbor slept last Friday was also recovered as well as a dining set snatched from a neighbor in Avila's building.
"He deserves to spend a lot of time in prison for terrorizing this woman also really our community," Cook said Friday afternoon.
Ganton said although she's glad residents feel safe enough to keep their doors unlocked, she's having conversations with them.
“Everyone needs to be safe, we need to make sure we’re locking our doors, make sure that we’re looking out after each other," she said.
She said she knows all her residents and is glad the home invasion victim will be OK.
“She comes up every Friday for Bingo, coffee and conversation," Ganton said. "She's a sweetheart."
Avila has been charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit other felony (First Degree Felony Offense).
“I want to thank our investigative, patrol, and dispatch teams for their quick and decisive actions taken today that resulted in this dangerous suspect being arrested within hours of the incident,” said Chief of Police Christopher Cook. “Bringing justice to this victim and restoring safety to our community is always our top priority.”
