By Eric Stevick Herald Writer
LYNNWOOD — The woman, 63, cried as she tried to describe what happened to her.
She had trouble talking to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office deputy, explaining that she was missing her top denture after being beaten.
She told her story at an emergency room Saturday evening.
The south county woman had bruises on her legs, knees, arms, wrists and stomach as well as a red lump on her forehead and a scrape on a cheek, according to court records.
Both of her eyes were described as bloodshot. Her little finger was broken on her left hand.
A bruise on her stomach appeared to be the outline of a small hand, the deputy wrote in a report to establish probable cause to arrest a young couple who lived with the woman.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Dave Hiltner told an Everett District Court judge Monday the case is being investigated as elder abuse.
The man, 25, and woman, 26, were arrested Sunday for investigation of second-degree domestic violence assault and booked into the Snohomish County Jail. Bail on each was set at $50,000. The female suspect was described in court papers as the victim’s niece.
A deputy tried to find the 63-year-old woman on Saturday afternoon after a friend requested someone check on her welfare. During a telephone conversation with one of the suspects, he was told the woman was fine.
He tried knocking on their apartment door several times, but no one answered.
A few hours later, a social worker at Swedish Medical Center/Mill Creek contacted police to report the woman was at their emergency room and may have been assaulted. The couple told the clinic staff that the woman’s injuries were self-inflicted.
The woman told the deputy that her niece ordered her boyfriend to beat her up because she’d urinated in her bed.
He used a black serving spoon that had holes in it to hit her all over her body and he ignored her pleas for mercy, she said.
She also alleged that the man forced her to take off her clothes and go into a shower that was so hot it felt like she was burning.
She told the deputy that the couple laughed at her when she got out of the tub and put her clothes on.
She said she was then made to disrobe again and she was pushed outside of her apartment naked some time after 4 a.m. Saturday. She said she fell and hit her head against a wall and broke her pinky finger.
The woman said she was then thrown back into the apartment where the couple hit and kicked her.
The woman later was transferred to Swedish/Edmonds hospital for more medical treatment. She planned to stay with a relative after her release.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
