Only on 13: Halloween hatchet-attack victim speaks on recovery, forgiveness 1 year later
PLACERVILLE -- A woman who survived being attacked with a hatchet on Halloween night in 2021 is still recovering one year later, left blind in one eye. She tells CBS13 in an exclusive interview she has been able to find forgiveness for the two assailants who changed her life forever.
Placerville's annual Halloween celebration that takes over downtown is a place for family fun, costumes, music and trick-or-treating. It ended in a nightmare for Kristine Hall last year.
It was late at night, Hall was heading home after eating dinner downtown following the Halloween celebration. It was then that she was brutally attacked by two young women who she saw vandalizing downtown businesses.
"I don't stand for looking the other way," said Hall.
While not able to turn a blind eye to what she saw, she confronted the two women, asking them what they were doing and telling them to stop. Instead, she was left with a blind eye.
"She stepped back and just hit me with a hatchet in the face," said Hall.
Hall and a friend fought back against the two assailants, both injured badly.
Theodora Economou and Vivian Bertrand were arrested by Placerville Police the night of the attack. Hall says her friends chased after the pair who tried to escape, detaining them nearby until police arrived.
The Halloween costumes worn by the women and image of the horrifying attack still haunts Hall even a year later.
"These girls were both dressed as Harley Quinn. It's something I can't get out of my mind," said Hall. She described the pair as laughing manically leading up to the attack.
Hall was left legally blind in her left eye, though she can still see some shapes and movement. The hatchet struck her left eye, from the corner of her eye down to her nose, leaving a visible scar.
"My retina is blown out, my pupil is blown out," said Hall.
Three surgeries helped keep her eye intact so she did not have to have it surgically removed.
Hall says to this day she doesn't know why the women attacked but believes it happened for a reason.
"I feel like I was protected by God and I feel like Satan was pushing his hand on their back," said Hall.
On October 7, the two 22-year-old women convicted of the crimes were both sentenced.
Theodora Economou will serve around 4 years in jail, Vivian Bertrand will serve two.
Hall says she went to court that day and found closure facing her attackers once again.
"I have hope. And I have faith in humanity still," said Hall.
Economou struck Hall with the hatchet. As she read her closing statement in court, she asked Hall one question.
"'Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?'" Hall recounted. "And I stood up in the back of the courtroom and I threw her a little heart. I said, 'It's already done, man. It's already done.'"
Hall will require more surgeries as she continues to heal, the longevity of her eye uncertain.
Donations to her ongoing medical care can be sent through GoFundMe.
