masked burglar attempting to jar open window with crowbar
Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
July 9, 2024 ·  4 min read

Thug Breaks Into Elderly Woman’s Home – She Whispers Three Words That Have Him Running For His Life

It is a sad day for humanity when an elderly woman has to go to extreme lengths to protect herself. The woman from Pennsylvania was about to face something worse than death. The 88-year-old woman was about to be raped when she told her assailant that she had AIDS. The brave woman in question, Helen Reynolds,[1] later spoke in an interview. According to her, the man had barged into her Parkesburg apartment. After going through her purse, he was getting ready to rape her. The only way she could prevent that was by telling him that she was HIV positive. But before he left, she “kicked him where it hurt him the most.”

Elderly Woman Uses Cunning To Escape Sexual Assault

Helen Reynolds
Image Credits: 6abc

The man had posed himself as an apartment complex worker. After barging inside the elderly woman’s house, he used duct tape to bind her.

“He wrapped it all around my face and my nose and my eyeglasses. He had a piece in my mouth. I said to him ‘Well it’s like this. You might as well know the truth’. I said, ‘I have HIV and my husband died from it,’ which is a lie. When I said that he just walked out of the bedroom. That’s the comment that saved my life.”

When she was asked if she wanted to say anything to the assailant, she was adamant. “I have nothing good to say about him. Nothing at all. Put him in jail, and leave the sucker there.”[2]


Unfortunately incidents involving the elderly aren’t all that rare. Here are two other instances where the ‘bad guys’ have been outsmarted.

Read: Elderly Widower Finds A Fishing Partner After Posting A Tearjerking Classified Ad

93-Year-Old Elderly Woman Won’t Let You Thieve Her!

Incidentally, another elderly woman in 2021 showed her mettle when she refused to back down. An individual had tried to snatch at her purse at a Shoreline store.[3] As reported by the authorities, the 93-year-old woman had been shopping when the teenager tore at her purse. Interestingly, while the suspect did try to escape, the woman didn’t let him. The woman chased after the thief and screamed herself hoarsely. This attracted the attention of other shoppers who quickly apprehended the thief. The individual was then detained by store security. 

Thankfully, the 93-year-old woman had not suffered any injuries as a result of this. This was released in a statement from the King County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies at the department went through the suspect’s name post the arrest and did learn something interesting. Incidentally, the teenager had a felony warrant for robbery out of King County Juvenile Court. With the teenager now an adult, things turned out to be different.

The County Office tweeted, “There is a special place in you know where for thieves that prey on the elderly. But in this case, the victim gave this purse snatcher a run for his money. On 05/27/2021 at 4:06 PM, deputies were dispatched to a store in the 18300 block of Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline. Arriving deputies were met by store security, who had detained a male. Deputies spoke with the 93-year-old victim, who told them she was shopping when the suspect grabbed her purse from her grocery cart and took off.”

Read: Single mother faces prison for letting her 14-year-old babysit

Elderly Woman Knows How To Turn The Tables On Scammer

In another tale of a spirited elderly woman, a scammer finally met their match. As we know, elderly Americans have been losing out on billions of dollars since the stimulus check payments came out. A 73-year-old woman from Long Island decided to turn the tables on them.[4]

She had apparently received a call from someone claiming to be her grandson.

“I knew he was a real scammer…I just knew he wasn’t going to scam me.” The scammer had informed her that he was arrested for drunk driving. “He started calling me grandma, and I don’t have a grandson who drives, so I knew it was a scam.” The former 911 dispatcher decided to have some fun with this.

“I told him I had the money in the house, and I figure he’s not going to fall for that. Well, he fell for it. Hook, line and sinker.” When her ‘grandson’ came to take the money, she handed him a bunch of paper towels in an envelope. 

The elderly woman had already called the cops, who were simply waiting. As the scammer walked away, the officers arrested him. And soon, his real identity came to the forefront. “I feel like, ‘I gotcha!’ I feel like so many people fall for this, and you only hear about it on the other end after they’ve lost $8,000.”

Keep Reading: 7-Year-Old Finds Her Photo on a Milk Carton, Doesn’t Understand She’s a Missing Child

Sources

  1. Chester Co. woman, 88, to would-be rapist: ‘I have HIV’.” 6ABC. Christie Christie Ileto. March 3, 2017.
  2. 88-year-old woman stops rape by claiming to be HIV-positive.” AP News. March 3, 2017.
  3. Purse thief thwarted by 93-year-old woman at Shoreline grocery store.” King 5. June 4, 2021.
  4. Grandma tricks alleged scammer into coming to her house where police pounce, make arrest.” 6 ABC. January 22, 2022