Elderly couple tased, beaten, and forced in closet during robbery
Three Elkhart residents are recovering after two separate home invasions.
They happened early Monday morning.
All three residents are senior citizens.
“I heard a knock on the door,” Juanita Tripp began.
Her clock read 5 a.m.
It was still dark outside and 69-year-old Juanita Tripp believed two women needed help.
“They hollered through the door that their car had broke down so I decided to let them in,” she explained.
The women sat down at her kitchen table and chatted for a bit.
Tripp said they seemed friendly.
After a few more minutes a man walked in and they each requested to use her bathroom.
Tripp started to get the feeling something wasn’t right.
And sure enough, it wasn’t.
Moments later she was attacked.
“She tasered me I think three times all together and I went down on the third taser. She stuck the prong in my neck,” said Tripp visibly scarred.
In the next room, the male suspect slammed Tripp’s husband to the floor before putting them in a closet.
“I thought lord they’re going to kill us,” she said.
Family said Tripp’s husband is hospitalized, suffering from a torn lung, on what ironically happens to be his 75th birthday.
The suspects got away with more than $700, jewelry, and prescription drugs.
They left behind a smashed phone, slashed tire, and countless cuts and bruises.
This happened on Hawthorne in Elkhart.
One mile away and four hours before this crime another elderly man was robbed on fountain row.
Police say it was the same M.O.
The suspects pretended to need help.
Once they got inside they tied the 72-year-old up and robbed him.
“It was shocking because nothing like this has ever happened out here,” said long time neighbor Raymond Jones upon learning what happened.
Police said they vigorously investigate every case and this one they find even more disturbing.
“When you start talking about victims who are elderly or children, it really strikes a cord with them,” explained Captain Jeff Siegel with the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department.
Police described the suspects as two white females with blonde hair and one white male.
No one is in custody at this time.
