Suspect arrested for attacking 83-year-old woman

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth police believe they have caught the man who attacked an 83-year-old woman in her home and stole her son’s truck earlier this month.

Thaddeus Lammar Clay, 22, was taken into custody and charged with aggravated robbery and motor vehicle theft.

On Dec. 10, a man came through 83-year-old Suzy Alummuttil’s front door while she was in bed with her dying husband. She had left the door unlocked because she was expecting a hospice worker.

Once inside, Suzy said the man opened doors and cabinets just a few feet away from her and her husband.

"And I asked him who are you? What do you want? Who are you? Tell me your name. Tell me your name,” she recalled. “He didn't say anything to me."

Suzy tried to call 911, but the call didn't go through. She then quickly dialed her son, Saji Alummuttil. That's when she said the man tried to wrestle the phone away from her.

"All I could hear was some sort of struggle. That's the best I could explain it as,” Saji recalled. “So of course, I'm in panic mode."

Police said a tip from social media helped lead to Clay’s identification and arrest.

“From that, we had an outpour of people saying we recognize who this person is,” said Fort Worth Police Officer Tracy Carter. “From that, our detectives were able to follow up. Thank you for them working a lot of overtime trying to get this case solved.”

Sheri Gardner is especially relieved to learn of the arrest. She works nearby and regularly walks past Suzy’s house.

“It be really dark and nobody there with me,” she said. “So yeah, that makes me feel a lot better.”

Suzy wasn’t seriously hurt in the December 10 incident. But to make things worse, her husband of 52 years passed away the next day.