Tough call: Should PD have gone public with attack details?
I’d never before had the victim of a violent crime ask me this question: “Can you tell me why this story hasn’t been in the news yet?”
Heather Owens was the victim of a brutal Aug. 28 assault in the backyard of her Florence Avenue home. The case remains at this writing unsolved.
I met with Owens, the owner of a Downtown Waynesboro business, Natural Beauty Studio, on Tuesday to discuss the case and the ongoing investigation. The details as to the latest in the investigation are somewhat sketchy – she knows that investigators have sent DNA evidence collected at the scene to the state crime lab in Richmond for analysis and that several acquaintances and others that she had been in contact with the day of the incident have submitted DNA samples as part of the forensics investigation.
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Police still working leads in brutal assault of downtown business owner
A Downtown Waynesboro business owner was brutally attacked outside her Florence Avenue home in the early-morning hours of Aug. 28, and her attacker remains at large as police investigators continue to work leads in the case.
“What got me through this … I kept saying to myself, I have to stay alive for Dylan,” said Heather Owens, the owner of Natural Beauty Studio, recounting the 1:30 a.m. beating that left her bloodied, bruised and unconscious for several hours.
Investigators are treating the incident as an aggravated assault. A Waynesboro Police Department spokesperson said it does not appear at this time that Owens was sexually assaulted, and that there is also not any evidence indicating that robbery or attempted robbery was involved in the crime.
Sgt. Kelly Walker said DNA evidence collected at the scene has been sent to the state crime lab in Richmond for analysis. Owens said DNA samples have been taken from several acquaintances, including friends of her son, Dylan, 15, a sophomore at Fishburne Military School, and others that she’d been in contact with that day.
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Related: Tough call-Should PD have gone public with attack details?
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Owens had just let her dog out into her backyard moments before the attack. She fought back initially, but was knocked unconscious during the attack. She came to and found her attacker standing over her.
“I went into yoga mode at that point,” she said, describing how she slowed her breathing using techniques she teaches in her yoga classes to essentially try to play dead.
Owens said she got a good look at her attacker, but she doesn’t know his identity
“I’ve not known anybody to have a vendetta against me,” Owens said. “It’s not anybody I know. I’ve never seen the person in my life. They’ve got a theory about it being a stalker, but there are a couple of theories going around.”
Walker said the investigation is currently focusing on several potential suspects, but he wouldn’t go into any further detail.
Owens, who still has a black ring around her left eye reminding her of the attack six weeks ago, reopened her business last week.
“The support I’ve received from clients and friends has been overwhelming,” she said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Packed Third Fridays schedule in Downtown Waynesboro
‘Radio Hour’, Children’s Hour, It’s All About the Kids (And Parents, Of Course)
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The ‘River City Radio Hour’ combats the winter blues: The “River City Radio Hour” is bringing up the temperature with its Friday, Feb. 19 performances.
The ever-popular Boogie Kings headed by Richard Adams with William Hayes on keyboard and J. T. Fauber on percussion will warm the hearts with a new set of tunes. Joining them will be Andrea Saunders. Saunders has been singing since she was 13 and has won numerous talent contests and performed for many Valley benefit events. Active in area theatres, she was heralded for her exception performance of Always Patsy Kline at ShenanArts. Saunders serves in the National Guard as a combat medic and will be leaving soon for Texas to continue her military training as physical therapist.
February also marks the second installment of Bob Crawford’s new Night Hawk Mystery. In Chapter One of Night Hawk and Murder at Stan’s TV and Appliances, Chester Burch, aka the Night Hawk, agreed to locate Sally Swisher’s brother, whom she feared may have broken into Stan’s murdered the manager. Before they can locate the brother, they were lured into a basement room at Arnold’s Book Emporium and locked in with the rats and bats. In the new installment, Night Hawk must free them and find the lost brother before there is another murder. Featured in the role of Night Hawk is Bob Lunger. Read more
3rd Fridays announces Nov. 20 lineup
Staff Report
Downtown Waynesboro is Alive with 3rd Fridays again Friday night, Nov. 20.
Downtown’s monthly night of dining, shopping, art and entertainment will begin at 5 p.m.
“The River City Radio Hour” will have performances at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Blue Ridge Christian Fellowship Cafe and Music Hall, located at 329 W. Main St.., featuring The Boogie Kings, comedy by Marsha Howard, Special Guest Performer: Sandi Belcher, plus Episode Three of Jingle Bell Jubilee written by Elizabeth Massie and Barbra Spilman Lawson. Read more
Bruised, battered, beaten – but not defeated: Business owner recounts attack, and fights back
Posted by afp on October 21, 2010 · 1 Comment
“All I could think of was, I have to stay alive for Dylan.”
Heather Owens had just taken her dog, Shadow, out to do her business. It was late on a Friday night, technically Saturday morning, around 1:30 a.m., Aug. 28, 2010.
Owens was sitting on the step of her back porch when she saw a figure dart from her left.
“And then he was on me,” she said.
Instinctively she fought back.
“I guess he wasn’t expecting that,” she said, and she could sense the anger in his voice.
“The only words he said the whole time were, OK, now I’m going to kill you, bitch,” she said.
More instinct: Owens teaches yoga at her downtown studio, Natural Beauty.
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