Help sought in beating case

SOUTH GLENDALE — Police are seeking the public’s help in investigating a June 2 attack in which a 58-year-old woman was bound and beaten unconscious inside her East Garfield Avenue apartment.

Police officers and volunteers distributed crime bulletins in the neighborhood Wednesday evening seeking more information, and Glendale Crime Stoppers has offered $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the woman’s attacker.

Detectives were investigating the gruesome attack, but their leads have come up empty. Police are hoping the reward will stir the pot and get witnesses to come forward to help them solve the violent attack, Glendale Police Det. Mike Wenz said.

“To the person who did this, have valor and turn yourself in because that’s the right thing to do,” said the woman, whose name was not released for fear of retribution.

The attack occurred sometime between 10 p.m. and 12:53 a.m. last month in the woman’s apartment on the 200 block of East Garfield Avenue, Wenz said.

Details about the attack were vague because she was knocked unconscious, he said.

“She doesn’t remember anything,” Wenz said.

The woman only recalls walking her dog about 9:30 p.m., returning home and going to bed about 10 p.m., he said.

At about 12:50 a.m., the woman awoke gasping for air because her mouth had been taped shut, Wenz said. Tape had also been placed over her eyes, and her wrists were bound, he said.

She pulled the tape from her eyes and mouth, and ran upstairs to a neighbor’s home, requesting help.

“I was like ‘My head, my head – it hurts. I felt like was I was suffocating,” the woman said.

The entire left side of her face was seriously swollen from having been beaten with an unknown object. Some bones on the left side of her face were fractured and some of her teeth were knocked out, Wenz said.

She was taken to Los Angeles County–USC Medical Center and admitted into the Intensive Care Unit, where she remained for nearly two weeks, he added.

“At one point, the doctors were very concerned because she looked like she wasn’t going to make it,” Wenz said.

The woman said she doesn’t have any known enemies, and police have yet to establish a possible motive.

The woman is also going through her belongings to determine whether anything was stolen, he said.

Since the attack, the landlord has installed surveillance cameras around the building, Wenz added.

Anyone who is helping the attacker hide could be considered an accomplice, police said.

“I want them to stop being scared because if they don’t talk things continue happening,” the woman said.

Anyone with information on the attack may call the Glendale Police Department at (818) 548-4840 or Glendale Crime Stoppers at (818) 507-7867.

To remain anonymous, call the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers’ line at (800) 222-TIPS.