Irving PD: Caretaker kidnaps, stabs 85-year-old woman

Irving police are trying to track down a caretaker accused of beating, stabbing and trying to rob an 85-year old woman.

Lesia Ann Coco is wanted for aggravated kidnapping. Police say she knew the victim and her husband from previous caretaking duties. The attack allegedly happened in the victim's car near an Arlington gas station.

Police say once the car stopped at the Quik Trip off of I-20 and South Collins, here, the suspect got out and ran. It was bystanders there who called 911 to get the victim help. The elderly woman escaped with her life, but her family is afraid her attacker might come back.

After being beaten and stabbed several times, the 85-year old woman is slowly making her recovery. Her family asked FOX 4 not to show her face.

“We're all very concerned,” said Gail Simmons, the victim’s daughter-in-law. “We're locking our doors. We're making sure we're looking around.”

Simmons says Coco cared for the elderly woman's husband after he had a stroke last year and had stopped by the couple's house, uninvited and unannounced, twice before. She showed up a third time Friday night saying she could help the woman find some of her jewelry that had been missing from the home.

Police say Coco convinced the elderly woman to drive them to an area off I-20 and South Collins in Arlington, where she pulled a knife out.

“She just said, ‘We're not going for your jewelry. This is a robbery, and I'm going to kill you,’” Simmons claimed.

Simmons says her mother-in-law fought back and got the knife away. But that's when Coco started beating her, causing severe bruises and stab wounds.

“She had quite a few injuries from the stabbing with the knife, cutting with the knife on both sides of her mouth, stabbing on her arm and in her abdomen,” Simmons said.

The elderly woman then turned to song to survive, trying to distract Coco before she got out and ran away. The hour-long ordeal was finally over.

“For her to have fought this lady off for over an hour in her car and then started singing a spiritual song and got a conversation going about God — Wow that's amazing,” Simmons said.

Coco has been charged with crimes before for fraud and theft in 2011. She still has a valid nursing license and the Texas Board of Nursing has no current discipline action on her file.

“I think she has mental issues. I really don't know,” Simmons said. “I would like to talk to her and find out why? Why did you do that to these people?”

The family says Coco also threatened to come back and kill the woman's husband. They say they plan to move the couple to a more secure location for their safety once she gets out of the hospital.