East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

GRAND SALINE -- Police say the residents in and around Grand Saline should not fear because they do not believe the stabbing of a woman while she slept was an act of a serial-type predator.

Van Zandt County Sheriff's Investigator Patrick Reedy deputies and Grand Saline police were sent to a home two miles south of Grand Saline on Texas Highway 110 North about 10 p.m. Sunday when a 38-year-old woman reported she had been attacked in her home.

"The victim advised that she was asleep in bed when an unidentified male stabbed her in her lower abdomen. The victim advised that she believed the male to be possibly Hispanic wearing dark colored clothing," he said.

The woman told investigators the man fled through a window and left on foot.

Reedy said teams gathered evidence and believe the man entered the house through a window. He said authorities do not believe anything was taken from the home.

"We believe it's going to be an isolated incident," he said.

The victim is recovering at Mother Frances Hospital after being flown from the scene.

The woman's father, who lives next door to his daughter, said he was "shocked and flabbergasted" that someone would enter his daughter's home and stab her as she slept.

"Heck yes it's scary. I mean whoever it was broke into her house, made his way through the home and found her in bed then attacked her while she was asleep. That's pretty scary," the man said.

The man stood at the road looking at his daughter's home, which sits directly across from the Morton Salt Mine, as the yellow crime tape flapped in the wind.

"I usually go over and wake her up for work, but she didn't work last night so the last time I saw her before they were putting her into the ambulance was earlier in the evening," he said.

The man said the last he heard his daughter was doing better, but was still in the Intensive Care Unit.

"I just hope she is OK and that they catch the guy who did it," he said.

Not long after the sun came up over Grand Saline on Monday morning, the phone at the police station started ringing with concerned citizens.

"Rumors are floating around and in a small town like ours the word spreads quickly," said Grand Saline Officer Justin Collins.

Collins and Reedy both said there have been no similar incidents in the city or in Van Zandt County.

Collins added that citizens should always lock their doors and secure their property.

Anyone with information should call the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office at 903-567-4133, Crimestoppers at 903-567-7867 or the Texas Rangers.