Neighbors Shocked After 91-Year-Old Woman Beaten, Robbed
LEECHBURG (KDKA) -- Louise Connors, 91, has lived in her home on Pershing Avenue in Leechburg for years. It's a place where neighbors look out for each other.
But early Wednesday morning 33-year-old Audrey Jo Halverson and 41-year-old Yvonne Sue Shotts were certainly not looking out for their neighbor.
Neighbor Bill Coutch looked out for her.
"They beat her up," he said. "She had blood running in her head. They were afraid it might swell up, so they're watching her."
Police say the women came in through a rear window, confronted Connors, who at 91 is frail, and not in good health. When she didn't give up her purse or her money, they smacked her in the head and snatched her Life Alert alarm.
It shocked the neighborhood.
"I just thought what a terrible thing to happen to the sweetest, nicest old lady. She's been there for a lot of years," said Paige Simon.
Coutch said, "I was sitting up till two o'clock and didn't hear a thing. They must have waited till a truck come by and broke the window."
Police say the victim tried to call 911 from a cell phone and Shotts took it and threw it across the room. But the victim was able to press her medical alarm before her assailants took it, so police arrived a short time later.
That's when they saw tracks in the grass that led them to Connor's assailants. Now the two women are behind bars and Conner is fighting internal bleeding.
Simon misses seeing her on the front porch already.
"She used to always sit out on her porch," she said. "Friendly to everybody. All dressed up. Just a very stylish older lady."
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