Lily Garza, 31, was sleeping in her East Houston home around 4 p.m. on August 15 when she woke up to find a stranger in her room. When she attempted to get up, the man pushed her back down on the bed, she told KHOU 11.
“He just told her to like: ‘Don’t do anything stupid, to lay down, don’t move,'” Garza’s husband, Cesar, said to the news outlet.
Instead of complying, Garza fled downstairs, shouting: “I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!” Surveillance footage showed the armed intruder, whose identity remains unknown, grabbing her, putting her in a chokehold, and dragging her as her two dogs ran around.
Footage showed the attacker dragging Garza violently through her living room, knocking over chairs before throwing her to the ground.
“Even though you can see my belly, he wasn’t listening,” Garza said to KHOU 11. “He didn’t care, he didn’t care at all.”
The attacker exited through the backdoor, using a transformer box to jump the fence, and was later seen fleeing through a parking lot. Surveillance footage from Houston Police showed he had entered the home through a window.
Thankfully, Garza reported that her baby was unharmed in the incident. She is due to give birth soon. “Baby is good, baby is good,” she assured.
The suspect has been described as a short Hispanic man in his 40s or 50s. He stole Garza’s wedding ring, other pieces of jewelry, and her phone.
“I really want him to get caught because the fact that he did it in broad daylight and the fact that he wasn’t afraid to put his hands on a pregnant woman, you wouldn’t know what he would do to someone who isn’t pregnant,” Garza said.
Garza suspects the intruder chose her home, thinking it was unoccupied, and she believes he may be responsible for other crimes.
Houston Crime Stoppers has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to his capture, as he is wanted for aggravated home robbery.
Garza said that she felt safer in El Salvador than in Houston. “I was safer, felt safer in El Salvador than how I felt that day in my own house.”
