Elderly woman beaten and left bound for four days

EAST BRANDYWINE, PA -- A 72-year-old woman who was beaten, bound, and left in a closet spent four days trapped in her own East Brandywine Home, Chester County home, police say.

The calls for help came from a family member making a welfare check.

The 911 dispatcher that night said, "Caller just got to the mother in-law's house, found her with a reusable shopping bag on her head."

"I was horrified when the police came," neighbor Ginny Franke said.

Usually a quiet rural road, Franke had no idea this violence was unfolding next door.

"I was really scared. It really upsets me that something this close to home happened," Franke said.

Her husband Rich Franke thinks whoever committed this crime knew about the victim.

"Somebody knew this lady was living alone," Rich Franke said.

This is the latest violent home invasion in Chester County in what has been a string of seven since June.

Five of the incidents occurred in the last five months.

Sources say geographically it appears the majority of the incidents are in the same vicinity of the county.

Authorities are now exploring whether these cases are linked leaving many who live here unsettled.

"It bothers the living hell out of me," neighbor Larry Crossan said. "Things like this don't happen out here, except it happened."