HOUSTON — A pregnant Houston woman who was held at knifepoint during a home invasion earlier this month is pleading for someone to come forward to identify the aggressive robber. Her terrifying ordeal was caught on surveillance camera.
The victim, who is eight months pregnant, spoke with us Tuesday in an interview you'll see only on KHOU 11. Mrs. Garza didn't want us to show her face on camera or use her first name because she's still scared after the ordeal in her east Houston home on Aug. 15.
Garza was sleeping that afternoon when she woke up to find a man in their bedroom. She tried to get up but he pushed her back on the bed.
Garza pleaded with the robber to spare her and her unborn son.
“Even though you can see my belly, he wasn’t listening," she told us. "He didn’t care, he didn’t care at all.”
"He just told her to like, 'Don't do anything stupid, to lay down, don't move," her husband Cesar Garza told us the day after the robbery. "She stayed calm throughout the whole traumatic event."
As he rummaged through the couple's belongings, the 31-year-old victim ran downstairs, but the man chased her and grabbed her.
"I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant!" she screamed while the family's two small dogs barked at the man.
The robber, who had a knife, put the victim in a chokehold and dragged her through the living room before pushing her to the floor. Mrs. Garza finally got away, ran outside and screamed for help.
That's when the robber ran out the back door and hopped the fence. He escaped with her wedding ring, other jewelry and her phone.
"I really want him to get caught because the fact that he did it in broad daylight and the fact that he wasn't afraid to put his hands on a pregnant woman, you wouldn't know what he would do to someone who isn't pregnant," Cesar Garza said.
Mrs. Garza believes the suspect cased their house thinking no one was home and came in through an unlocked back window. They've ramped up security since then but she still doesn't feel safe.
“I was safer, felt safer in El Salvador than how I felt that day in my own house,” Mrs. Garza said.
She's due to give birth any day now.
“Baby is good, baby is good,” she said. “We’ve been wanting it for so long."
The couple will name their son Kai for "warrior."
They're hoping a $5,000 Crime Stoppers reward will lead to the suspect's arrest.
"Please, say something if you know whoever that person is,” Mrs. Garza said. “Say something.”
The man is believed to be between 45 and 50 years old, around 5 feet 6 inches and 145 pounds with a gray goatee. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, a ballcap and black gloves at the time of the robbery.
If you recognize him, please call the Houston Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).