Strangers Break Into Home, Throw Mother Through Window
By Dan Breitwieser, WCJB TV 20 News.
It's the second home invasion in Levy County in less than a week. It's a living nightmare for the victim. While the married mother of two was on the phone with emergency dispatchers, two strangers came through her back door.
Sheriff's deputies aren't sure why two men broke into the home Friday. It was only after the suspects found out Patricia Wheeler's husband wasn't around. After telling them to leave, she called emergency dispatch. But then the men came back up to the home, walked through the unlocked back door and the phone went dead.
Lieutenant Evan Sullivan was on the scene five minutes later... about 10-23 A.M.
"The victim was really unable to talk," says Lt. Sullivan. "She was in a ball like in a fetal position crying. When i asked if the suspects were still in the residence, she couldn't answer me."
The victim, Patricia Wheeler, was bleeding from her lower back and elbows. A rear window was shattered, with some pieces of glass as far as 20 feet away from the mobile home.
She was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, while detectives went to work. Despite being about 8 miles from a home invasion incident late Monday night, investigators don't believe this one is related to any other incidents. But with 4 home invasions in less than 3 months, detectives warn all residents to be careful.
"If you have a stranger in your yard, we're asking that you don't make contact," says Sullivan. "Go ahead and call the sheriff's office. We'll be glad to respond and it could be a salesman, or it could be a bad guy."
The two men are described as Hispanic males between 20 and 40 driving a blue S.U.V with tinted windows. Detectives aren't sure what the suspects were after or if they stole anything. Wheeler was supposed to make a court appearance today related to an unrelated incident from July 2007.
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