Pregnant woman severely injured, airlifted from NW Harris County home

Jessica Willey Image
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Search underway for attacker
The search is underway for an attacker who brually beat a pregnant woman

HARRIS COUNTY (KTRK) -- A pregnant woman was viciously attacked inside her home near Tomball and now doctors are working to save her and her unborn child.

"That's scary. That's really scary, especially when I live a few houses down," said a neighbor who only wanted to be identified by her first name, Angie.

A pregnant woman with severe head trauma was airlifted from her home near Tomball on Monday afternoon.

The victim is 25. She is seven months pregnant and had to be flown by medical helicopter to the hospital to undergo surgery. At last report, both she and her unborn child are still alive.

Harris County Sheriff's deputies responded around 12:45pm to the victim's home in the 22200 block of Main Boulevard in the Rosehill community in northwest Harris County.

According to Assistant Chief Lee Sulecki of the Rosehill Fire Department, they had to force their way in. Once inside, they found the victim with severe trauma to her head.

Homicide investigators say she had been hit with some kind of object. It does not appear to be a robbery.

Sulecki says the woman's mother was on the phone with her daughter just before she was injured.

"She called her mother and evidently there was something going on that made her mother want to come over here," Sulecki said. "Not able to get in the house and called 911."

Homicide investigators are working the case because it involves a pregnant woman. No arrests have been made.

Timothy Derek Cassard, the victim's longtime boyfriend, identifies her as April Dorris. He spoke to abc13 exclusively about how she's doing after spending most of the night with Dorris at Memorial Hermann.

Cassard says she's unconscious, in critical condition, but stable.

Dorris is seven months pregnant with the couple's daughter, who, according to investigators, wasn't hurt.

Dorris's friends tell abc13 she was on the phone with her mother Monday afternoon when Dorris was attacked inside her trailer. Her mother reported Dorris screamed, then dropped the phone.

Investigators say someone beat her, then took off. It does not appear this was a robbery.

When Dorris' mother arrived at the trailer, Dorris' friends say the home was locked. Detectives say the mother called 911 and waited for deputies to arrive.

Cassard returned to the trailer Tuesday morning, for the first time since Dorris was attacked.

Overwhelmed with emotion before he went inside, Cassard hit the wall, then was comforted by a friend who was there for support.

Cassard is begging the public to help him find the person who hurt the mother of his child.

"I don't know who would do this or why they would do this or what kind of animal could do this to a seven month pregnant woman like that," Cassard said. "But if anybody knows anything, if you could come forward and you could talk to the sheriff's department and let them know, anything you know, anything helpful little, big, small."

The Harris County Sheriff's Office is investigating this case. Right now, they have no leads on a suspect.