Sunnyside woman, 95, dies two months after assault

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two months after she was beaten and robbed in her Sunnyside home where she had lived for more than 60 years, 95-year-old Ophelia Outley died earlier this week from a stroke.

Her family says it was a direct result of the terrible beating she had taken at the hands of an unknown intruder. She was in a hospital, and later a rehabilitation facility for her injuries. They want the charge against the attacker, should he be caught, upgraded to murder.

Outley lived an extraordinary life. She was a veteran, who enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in 1943, during WWII. It came at a time when there was segregation in the military. She served in several theaters of operation, including Europe, according to her family.

At home, she was a wife and mother, and went on to raise several grandchildren at her southeast Houston home.

On the night of MLK Day two months ago, she was was in her living room when she told her family she was confronted by a man she didn't know. He had removed a window air conditioner and crawled inside the house.

By the time he left with a small TV set, Mrs Outley had a broken shoulder, a black eye and was bruised across her body. She managed to drag herself to another room after the attack, but the robber had also taken her phone.

She hadn't been back to her house since the attack, until Monday, when her family brought her back to the home.

"She wanted to check on things," said one grand daughter.

Within hours of returning to the care facility, she suffered a stroke, and died at a hospital.

"It was murder," granddaughter Michelle Sherman said of the person who set in motion her grandmother's death. "He took the love of our life."

The suspect has yet to be identified. The family hopes that will change, that someone will provide a tip that ends in an arrest.

They're also dealing with the discovery that Mrs Outley's life insurance policy, which they say she had for years and was paid on until her death, will provide only $2,000 toward burial costs.

A GoFundMe page has been set up in Outley's name to help with funeral expenses.