SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — Three Saratoga Springs women are recovering after a violent home invasion that took place on Thursday.
83-year-old Patsy Stroud and her two daughters, Eva Bell and Julie Ward, were inside their home when they heard about a dozen knocks at their front door.
Thinking the person on the other end may need help, Julie Ward said she went and opened the door.
"She just kind of pushed me and barged in here," said Ward.
They say a 24-year-old woman, identified in a probable cause statement as Katelyn Oxendine, made her way into the home.
"My daughter got up to get her to leave and I stepped up to help her and she punched me square in the face, knocked me off my feet," said Stroud.
The family told FOX 13 News on Friday that they had never seen or met Oxendine before.
"I grabbed her by the neck in a chokehold, thinking if I could just hold on to her, but she was wet and she was really strong and then she just started punching me," said Bell.
The scuffle, Bell says, continued in the family's living room.
"She grabbed onto my arm, with her teeth, like a dog, her head was going back and forth, and she was trying to pull chunks out of my arm," said Bell. "She kept saying, 'You are devils, you put a spell on me, you're controlling me.'"
Ward said she was on the phone with police as the entire incident played out in front of her.
"I could barely speak. I watched all of that from upstairs. I heard it — I hear it over and over again. It doesn't stop," said Ward.
The family said the incident played out for minutes but felt like an eternity.
"I believe that if she had had a weapon that this outcome would be far different," said Stroud.
Stroud's son, who she says was down in the basement at the time, came upstairs and was able to get Oxendine out of the home. She was arrested down the street by Saratoga Springs police shortly after the incident took place. According to the probable cause statement, she faces a variety of assault and burglary charges.
The probable cause statement says Oxendine was admitted to a hospital at the beginning of August for a psych detail, but no other information was given.
"I hope she gets help, because she was not all there," said Bell.
Both Stroud and Bell were treated at American Fork Hospital for their injuries.
Stroud is hoping to bring awareness to the fact that these kinds of incidents can happen.
"That people will be more careful with who is on their porch, not opening the door until they know that's someone they want in their home," said Stroud.
Stroud told FOX 13 News that she will be upgrading the security of her home after this incident.
