Suspect accused of breaking into Bethesda home, attacking 2 women deemed incompetent to stand trial
Suspect accused of breaking into Bethesda home, attacking 2 women deemed incompetent to stand trial
FOX 5 is following up with two women who experienced a harrowing attack at their home in Bethesda after a woman broke in and assaulted both of them. The suspect was in court Tuesday afternoon and the victims made sure to appear as well.
BETHESDA, Md. - FOX 5 is following up with two women who experienced a harrowing attack at their home in Bethesda after a woman broke in and assaulted both of them. The suspect was in court Tuesday afternoon and the victims made sure to appear as well.
The suspect, 40-year-old Latoya Owens, has been ordered to be held without bond after she was deemed incompetent to stand trial and the case has been put off until January.
She lived previously in northern Virginia and Alabama but her alleged victims in Montgomery County are left trying to make sense of it all.
"When she was hitting us, my mom and I have said like, you know it’s suddenly you kind of envision it all happening again and it’s just so disruptive to my life to our lives," Kristen said.
FOX 5 met up with Kristen and her mother Linda at the Montgomery County District Court Tuesday, just over a week after they experienced a terrifying attack at their Bethesda home in what appeared to be a random home invasion.
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"So I open the door and she said 'does Jean Paul live here?' And I said, ‘no I don’t know any Jean Paul,’ and I closed it and I locked it," Kristen told FOX 5 the day after the attack. "And I was dialing 911 and then I came here and I was like trying to lock it and she just blew through the door. Just blew through the doors and grabbed me and started just hitting me."
It happened at 8 p.m. on a Sunday night.
"The emotional part of healing is going to take some time. We’re definitely healing physically," Kristen said. "For me, when I allow myself to you know think about is when I’m alone and it just sort of creeps into my head. I can hear the pounding on my head and it reverberates in my ear. That’s what it felt like when it was happening."
Kristen and Linda say they’ve received an outpouring of support since the attack happened.
"We’ve been getting flowers and homemade cookies and you know just emails and little notes about how sorry how shocked they were that this happened," Linda said.
Besides being concerned for their well-being, Linda and Kristen hope their alleged attacker gets the mental health treatment she so clearly needs.
"I feel awful for her. I said it to my mom in the kitchen yesterday I was like…we feel bad but she’s in jail right now. Like, that can’t be easy, but it’s the only thing that actually gives me some feeling of safety," Kristen said. ""I want her to get help, 100%. That’s what’s best for our community."