California Grandmother Welcomes a Stranger Home, Found Beaten 6 Days Later

Therese Garcia was sitting outside her Crestline, California, home when a stranger walking through the neighborhood struck up a conversation with her.

The man told the 71-year-old grandmother that someone had stolen his belongings while he was camping and that he had a job interview coming up at a nearby hardware store, Garcia’s family told CBS Los Angeles. Garcia believed he was having a rough stretch and offered him a place to stay.

She cooked for him each night. Her daughter, Abbie Garcia, said the arrangement lasted six days before the guest began making demands and stopped doing the things he had agreed to do around the house.

Garcia eventually told him it was time to leave. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says what followed left her with severe injuries and sent deputies searching for 26-year-old Erik Eduardo Navarro.

A Place To Stay

Embedded media follows; please allow a moment to load.

Garcia’s daughter described her mother as someone who routinely tried to help people. When Navarro told her that his camping belongings had been stolen and mentioned the upcoming interview, she thought she was giving someone who had fallen on hard times a temporary place to get back on his feet.

“He was there a total of six days,” Abbie Garcia told CBS Los Angeles, adding that Navarro eventually began making demands and was not holding up his side of their arrangement.

That account fills in a piece the Sheriff’s Department did not initially have. Early reporting based on the department’s release described Navarro as having stayed at the house for approximately two weeks. Garcia’s family later described the stay as six days and explained how the two had met.

Either way, the arrangement ended when Garcia asked Navarro to leave.

Time To Go

The Sheriff’s Department says Navarro attacked Garcia with a metal baseball bat and kicked her several times.

Her family’s account is more harrowing. Abbie Garcia said her mother had fallen asleep on the couch when Navarro began hitting her with the bat. Garcia repeatedly lost consciousness during an attack that her daughter said went on for hours.

“Every time she would wake up a little bit, he would come back and beat her again,” Abbie told NBC Los Angeles.

Navarro then fled, Garcia’s family said, taking her phone, keys and e-bike. CBS Los Angeles reported that the family also said her credit cards were missing.

Neighbors became worried and requested a welfare check on Aug. 25. Deputies arrived at Garcia’s home in the 23900 block of Straight Way and found her badly injured.

The Sheriff’s Department reported a cut to her forehead and eyebrow, swollen hands and severe swelling around an eye that left her unable to see clearly. Her family later said doctors treated Garcia for broken bones in her arm, hand and face, deep cuts, a traumatic brain injury and bleeding in her brain.

A Long Recovery

Garcia remained hospitalized as the story drew wider attention in early September.

Her condition had stabilized, but her daughter said she remained in significant pain and could eventually require facial surgery once the swelling subsided. The family also started a fundraiser to help with her medical and recovery costs.

The attack has left relatives fearing Navarro could hurt someone else.

“I truly believe he will kill somebody if he’s not caught,” Abbie Garcia told CBS Los Angeles.

Still Looking

Navarro, an Orange County resident, remained wanted as of the latest reports on Sept. 5.

The Sheriff’s Department identified him as the suspect after the attack and released his photograph while asking the public for help locating him.

Anyone with information about Navarro or his whereabouts can contact the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through We-Tip.

For Garcia’s family, the circumstances that brought Navarro through her door were much simpler than some of the theories that followed the attack: he told a woman known for helping people that he had lost his belongings, needed somewhere to stay and had a job interview ahead of him.

She believed him.