HOLLADAY, Utah — After a 53-year-old woman was found beaten and unconscious in her Holladay home last week, the neighbor who found her is working hard to support her friend.
Four days after the vicious attack, the unidentified woman remains in critical but stable condition.
"I've talked to her mom, she's getting better every day, there's a long road ahead of her," said neighbor Heather Eaves.
Last Thursday, Eaves walked to her friend's house after not seeing her since the previous Tuesday. When she got to the home, she saw the back door open and eventually found her neighbor beaten on the floor of her basement.
Eaves is still processing what she saw.
"I was telling my husband, no matter how traumatic that was and how long it sticks with me, I would do it again in a heartbeat to save her, you know, to help her," she said Monday.
Unified Police and their Mobile Crime Lab spent Thursday investigating in hopes of piecing together exactly what took place. Police say they are still working on identifying a suspect.
"We're looking at a felony level [crime] here, probably in the areas of like attempted homicide, given the extreme to which she was beaten and then left there by herself," said Sgt. Melody Cutler with Unified Police.
With her friend recovering in the hospital, Eaves is rallying support for her. She left a heart on her friend's porch to remind her how much she's loved.
"Anybody that stops by, feels like they want to sign one of these hearts, just so she knows we've got her back," Eaves explained.
A GoFundMe page was also started by Eaves over the weekend.
"We've all thought that, a great thing to do for her would be to put in the Ring doorbell system so that when she does come home, she feels safe," she said, "we'd like her to have a really nice security system when she comes home."
Eaves is hopeful that any money raise can help cover her friends' medical expenses as she continues her recovery.
"I just want her to know that I love her more than anything, the neighborhood loves her more than anything," said Eaves.
Police said they were going to attempt to speak with the victim at the hospital again Monday, hoping that at the very minimum she knows who her attacker was and can give some sort of description as police continue their investigation.
