Crestline Grandmother Beaten Near Death with Baseball Bat by Man She Sheltered

Therese Garcia, 71, was savagely beaten while she slept by a man she had taken into her home. Suspect Erik Eduardo Navarro, 26, remains at large.

Crestline Woman, 71, Left for Dead After Sheltering Orange County Stranger

Therese Garcia, a 71-year-old grandmother from Crestline, California, remains hospitalized after being beaten for hours with a metal baseball bat by a man she had invited into her home, NY Post Metro reports. The suspect, Erik Eduardo Navarro, 26, of Orange County, has not been located.

Navarro arrived at Garcia's door claiming all his belongings had been stolen. He told her he needed temporary housing before a job interview, according to her family. Garcia took him in, cooked for him every evening, and described him as a "sweet kid" who had fallen on hard times.

After roughly two weeks, Navarro began "making demands and taking over her home," the family said. On Aug. 25, Garcia told him it was time to leave — a confrontation that allegedly triggered the assault.

Navarro reportedly picked up a metal baseball bat and attacked Garcia while she was sleeping. The beating continued for hours.

"She was in and out of consciousness, and every time she woke up, he would beat her again," the family wrote in a GoFundMe posting. "He stopped only after she completely lost consciousness and apparently believed she was dead. He then took her phone, credit cards, keys, E-bike, and other belongings and fled."

The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department confirmed Garcia suffered a laceration to her forehead, a cut eyebrow, swollen hands, and severe swelling around her eye socket that left her unable to see clearly. Her family said she spent days vomiting blood and may require facial surgery.

Photographs taken at her hospital bed show Garcia in a neck brace, with visibly swollen eyes and a cast on her left arm.

As of the GoFundMe's publication this week, Garcia is described as "medically stable" and making small steps of progress. However, she has no health insurance and remains "in immense pain, extremely dizzy, exhausted, and struggling with the effects of her brain injury," according to the family.

The incident is being classified as Battery with Serious Bodily Injury. Navarro is considered a suspect and has not been apprehended. Police have released a photo of him.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's Twin Peaks Station is asking anyone with information to call 909-336-0660.

"Please keep my mom in your prayers," the family wrote. "She survived the night she was left to die. Now we just want to give her every possible chance to heal."

Source: NY Post Metro