95-year-old Sunnyside sex assault victim speaks of attack

Friday, February 12, 2016
Family prepares home for return of 95-year-old assault victim
The family of a 95-year-old month is making sure her home is free of reminders of the horrific sexual assault she endured last month.

HOUISTON (KTRK) -- A 95-year old sex-assault victim is speaking for the first time since being attacked in her Sunnyside home.

Ophelia Outley spoke to us inside the rehab facility where she's recovering from a broken shoulder she suffered in that attack. She says she's grateful to be alive, but she feels sorry for her attacker if she ever sees him again.

A man got into Outley's Sunnyside home one January night by taking an A/C unit out of a window and climbing through.

On Thursday, flanked by her family and activist Quanell X, she told us she ran into the intruder in the hallway and tried to get into her bedroom to get a weapon to fight him off.

"When I got to the bedroom, he took this blanket and tried to wrap it around my head," she says. "And I guess that's how this arm got broke. I was trying to protect myself. That's all."

The World War II Army veteran says even though he hurt her, she didn't fear for her life.

"Anything he could find, he was after. 'Money money, money. I don't want you but I want money.' I said I don't keep money in this house. I didn't say it quite that nice, but I said it," Outley said.

He walked out through the front door with nothing but a television and her cordless phone so she couldn't call 911.

Outley's grandson found her the next morning on the living room floor. Her shoulder was broken, and Houston police say she was sexually assaulted.

Her family is hoping someone has a heart and turns in the suspect, if he doesn't turn himself in.

"Anybody who knows who this man is, please continue giving tips and letting us know," implored Quanell X. "And brother we will not sleep until we find you and you receive what is justly coming to you: a righteous punishment."

Her family says they're trying to eliminate all reminders of what happened, and make the home more secure while she's in the rehab facility.

"She does not want the A/C units at all. She don't want window units because that's how he came in," says her granddaughter Michelle Sherman.

They showed us the changes Thursday evening. They've painted two rooms. The A/C unit the intruder took out is gone, replaced with a full window. A new light is up in the back yard. They hope to put burglar bars up.

Sherman says Ms. Outley wants central A/C to replace the window units.

Ms. Outley says the suspect was tall, light brown-skinned, and smelled heavily of smoke. As vague as the description is, they're hoping somebody it sends red flags up in the neighborhood and that someone realizes they know who he is.