Police in Texas are on the hunt for a nurse who is accused of beating and repeatedly stabbing a former patient’s 85-year-old wife during an hour-long ordeal last week.
According to a press release from the Irving Police Department, the incident began unfolding just after 9pm on Friday when the victim and her husband returned home from dinner to find Lesia Ann Coco sitting on their porch in the 3200 block of Oceanview Street.
Coco, 49, a licensed nurse, used to be one of the caretakers of the victim’s husband after he suffered a stroke.
Wanted: Police in Texas are searching for licensed nurse Lesia Ann Coco, 49, (left), who is accused of beating and stabbing a former patient’s 85-year-old wife (right)
The victim was found bleeding at this Quik Trip gas station in Arlington, Texas, Saturday night
Coco got into the couple’s car after offering to show the wife the whereabouts of her jewelry, which had recently gone missing from their house.
As the octogenarian began driving, police say Coco pulled a knife on her, declaring that it was a robbery.
Gail Simmons, the victim’s daughter-in-law, told the station Fox 4 that Coco also said she was going to kill her mother-in-law.
The elderly woman honked the horn to draw passersby’ attention, which prompted Coco to strike and stab her with the knife, according to police.
The victim put up a fight and managed to wrest the knife away from her attacker, according to Simmons, but suffered multiple stab wounds to her mouth, arm and abdomen.
In a desperate bid to distract the assailant, the wounded woman broke into a spiritual song and began talking to Coco about God, according to her daughter-in-law.
Horrific injuries: During an hour-long ordeal, the octogenarian sustained stab wounds to her mouth, but survived after wresting the knife away from her attacker’s hands
The woman was also repeatedly stabbed in the arm (pictured) by the kidnapper, who ran away after allegedly threatening her husband
Coco instructed the woman to drive to the Quik Trip gas station in the 4200 block of South Collins Street in Arlington, where she jumped out of the car and fled on foot after threatening to have her husband killed, according to the press release.
Customers at the gas station spotted the 85-year-old woman bleeding and called police. She was transported to a hospital to be treated for her injuries.
There is now a warrant out for Coco’s arrest on a charge of aggravated kidnapping. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is being asked to call the Irving Police Department at 972-273-1010.
Coco has a criminal record that includes charges of theft and fraud dating back to 2011. She still has a valid nursing license in Texas.
Gail Simmons revealed the Coco had shown up at the elderly couple’s home unannounced twice prior to the knife attack, and the family are concerned she might come back.
They are planning to move the 85-year-old victim to another location after she is released from the hospital.