Women Fend Off Attacker With Kleenex Box, Curtain Rod
Filed Under Curtain Rods | Posted on July 9, 2008
ABBOTSFORD - Hours after she fended off a knife-wielding attacker in her own home, Nancy Teichgraf was at work, telling her story.
Early Thursday morning, Teichgraf was awakened by a knock on her bedroom door. She opened the door to see the man who shares the Abbotsford home with Teichgraf and her mother Frieda, 79.
“He said he had heard something,” Teichgraf said. “After about 30 minutes we checked to make sure everything was locked and to see if anything was stolen.”
With the home presumably secure, Teichgraf returned to bed. Her mother, shaken, stayed awake to read her Bible.
Five minutes later Teichgraf heard her mom’s muffled screams.
“She was screaming, screaming, and screaming, over and over and over,” Teichgraf said. “Whatever she could let out.”
Teichgraf scrambled downstairs, to see a tall, slim man holding her mom down. The man, wearing a black jacket with fur trim around the hood and a linen cloth over his nose and mouth, was holding a carpet layer’s knife to her mother’s throat. His other hand was cupped over the elderly woman’s mouth.
“He was telling her to stop screaming and she wouldn’t get hurt,” Teichgraf said.
Teichgraf, a muscular personal trainer, sprung into action. She grabbed the first thing she could find, a Kleenex box, and bashed the attacker over the head with it.
“He stopped and turned on me,” Teichgraf said. “I tried to grab and pull him away, and got the focus off my mom.
“I wanted to take him down. After a few minutes, I wrestled the knife away from him, and then I said, ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you,’ to let him know I wasn’t going to lay down and die as he had me pinned,” Teichgraf said.
As they wrestled, the man tried to cover Teichgraf’s mouth and she bit his finger hard enough to pierce his skin.
Meanwhile, Frieda, who uses a walker to get around, picked up a long, wooden closet rod and started slamming it over the man’s back, at least 10 times.
“He finally released me and got up and ran,” Nancy said.
The attacker ran through a side garage door and down the street.
Wearing just a housecoat and shoes, Nancy ran after the man.
The boarder, who had disappeared during the incident, reappeared as police interviewed Teichgraf and Frieda.
“He came back down the street, in socks, saying he chased the burglar,” Teichgraf said, “but I said, ‘Well, I chased him and I didn’t see you.’”
Nancy noticed a cut on the man’s finger: “He said, ‘Oh, I cut it chasing the guy.’” Police took the man outside for more questioning.
Tags: carpet layer, closet rod, fur, kleenex, linen clothRelated posts
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