Woman in nursing home after attackers cut off her finger for ring
Posted on 07/26/2002 2:49:28 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Woman in nursing home after attackers cut off her finger for ring
Victim's latest loss: her independence
07/26/2002
Mary Tucker cherished her wedding band so much that she had a clasp added so she could fit the white gold ring over her swollen, arthritic finger.
The 90-year-old Irving woman lost her prized possession last week when two men cut off her finger to steal the ring, police said.
On Thursday, she lost the only thing she valued more: her independence. Her injuries forced her to move into a nursing home, said her friend, Becky Smith, who has cared for Mrs. Tucker since a 1996 cataract surgery.
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Police are searching for two men who twice beat down the front door of her east Irving home over two days to steal from her. The second time, they beat and tied up the 80-pound woman before cutting off her finger, police said.
"Basically, they cut off her finger to get her ring," said Mrs. Smith, who has known the woman since the mid-1980s. "He tried to just get it off by just pulling but it wouldn't come off. All he had to do was open the clasp."
Mrs. Smith hasn't told Mrs. Tucker that she's in a nursing home for fear she'll quit fighting to recover. Mrs. Smith feared that her friend was close to death Monday but said she has made an amazing recovery.
"She's a tough lady, very independent," Mrs. Smith said. "We've been telling her she didn't need to live here, but that's her home."
'Extremely cruel'
The diamond ring three bands welded together was given to her by Turner Tucker. They married in 1933.
"It's extremely cruel," said Irving police Officer David Tull, a department spokesman. "I don't think she was able to put up any kind of fight."
Officer Tull said investigators have not determined why Mrs. Tucker was targeted. They don't know whether her attackers watched and knew her habits or whether the first break-in was random.
"They might have returned because they saw the ring and didn't get any resistance the first time," he said.
The men first came to the home in the 500 block of South Wildwood Drive about 3:30 p.m. July 18. They kicked in the front door and stole a money pouch that Mrs. Tucker kept in her pocket.
Mrs. Smith's husband, John Smith, replaced the front door and the couple stayed with Mrs. Tucker until she told them she was fine.
Blue and silver truck
The following day, the men returned for the ring about 7:30 or 8 p.m. They kicked in the new door before beating and tying up Mrs. Tucker. The Smiths found her tied up and bleeding later that night.
Mrs. Tucker has no children but raised several foster children, including 10 at one time, Mrs. Smith said.
Neighbors saw a blue and silver truck parked outside Mrs. Tucker's home on the day of the first robbery, police said.
Mr. Smith runs a business on the same property as Mrs. Tucker's house, which is surrounded by trees.
Mrs. Tucker told police and Mrs. Smith that the men were in their 30s and thin. Mrs. Smith said she wonders whether they could be younger because her friend has bad eyesight.
Officer Tull said the home-invasion robbery doesn't match the profile of other crimes in the city.
"We've definitely got to get these guys off the street," he said. "We were hoping to have them picked up by now."
E-mail jemily@dallasnews.com
Hows that for a great description? As usual, no mention of race.
Carolyn
We don't need any Arab practices in this country. Cut his own ring finger off, allow him a space of time to repent of his sins if he's capable, then erase this sickening low life from the face of the earth.
He terrorized and mutilated an elderly widow, a good woman who in her life took in many children who had no homes, simply to put money in his pocket. He is an abomination and should be done away with.
Agreed. How about a nice, American punishment...like a half-dozen Commanche squaws with some long sharp sticks...
And here's something worse. Which one of us will think, if the police catch them, "Good! Now justice will be served!"? Won't we instead be thinking, "Great. Now we have to hear about their childhoods, and their rough lives, and how Reagan hurt their community..."?
Law should be about justice, courts should be about law. Justice should be something criminals fear. It isn't; victims fear it worse.
The misery of living in a Romans 1:18-32 society. Lord, this sickens me; better change subject, or I'll be bawling aloud at work.
Dan
Biblical Christianity web site
Yet when Robertson or Falwell dare to connect 911 and judgement, the uproar drowns them out.
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