Ax-wielding woman on bicycle attacks couple in NW Harris County: 'That girl had no soul'

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman is facing kidnapping and robbery charges after prosecutors say she attacked a couple with an ax, and one of the victims believes jealousy is the motive.

ONLY ON 13, Katelynn Mitcham, 20, told Eyewitness News that she and her 22-year-old girlfriend had just gotten matching tattoos early Tuesday morning when they pulled into the Westbrook Lakes community pool's parking lot in northwest Harris County.

"We were in the back of the car. We were just talking about life," Mitcham said.

But according to Mitcham, 47-year-old Loretta Hughes cut that conversation short when she pulled up on a bicycle with knives and what court documents describe as an ax.

"She pulled her hatchet out and started threatening us. Then she just started beating my girlfriend up," Mitcham said, adding that Hughes "basically said that we're gonna die together."

Mitcham said she'd only begun dating her girlfriend within the last week but that her girlfriend had previously dated the suspect.

Fearing for her life, Mitcham said she reached for a pocket knife, which, she adds, only made Hughes angrier.

"As soon as she saw me go and try and get that, she instantly came after me," she said.

Mitcham told Eyewitness News that she and her girlfriend managed to escape the car and ran toward nearby Owens Elementary School. But her girlfriend's escape was short-lived. She said Mitcham caught up to her and dragged her back to the car.

"She's very petite, so it wasn't hard for this girl to throw her back in the car like that," she said.

As Mitcham continued to run, she said Hughes started driving after her, forcing her to try to scramble atop the elementary school by way of a tree.

"She had gotten in my car, reversed, and was trying to hit me, so I was getting on top of the building, and then I was like, 'I'm not gonna be fast enough,'" Mitcham said.

Instead, she said she was able to flag down a police officer posted outside the school. But by that time, she said Hughes had already driven off with her girlfriend.

"My girlfriend said the only way that she got out was by pulling the steering wheel and just punching her as hard as she could, and then jumping out of the vehicle, which she was dragged for a few minutes after," said Mitcham.

Harris County sheriff's deputies arrested Hughes later that morning. It's unclear how they caught up to her since Mitcham said deputies had yet to find her car.

Hughes made her first court appearance Tuesday evening, where a judge set her bond at $100,000. Mitcham hopes she never posts it.

"One-hundred percent that girl would have killed us. There was no doubt in my mind. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Yeah, that girl had no soul that night," she said.

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