Orange County Man Accused Of Clubbing 71-Year-Old Crestline Grandmother With Bat In Her Sleep

A 26-year-old Orange County man allegedly clubbed a sleeping grandmother with a metal baseball bat after she gave him shelter, sheriff’s officials said.

Erik Eduardo Navarro, 26, is of Orange County, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The victim was identified as 71-year-old Therese Garcia of Crestline, her family said.

Garcia opened her home to Navarro after he showed up claiming all his belongings had been stolen, according to her family.

Navarro stated that he needed a place to stay ahead of an upcoming job interview, relatives said. Garcia had never met him before, her family stated.

The grandmother took him inside and cooked dinner for him every night, relatives said.

Garcia came to believe Navarro was a “sweet kid” down on his luck, according to her family.

Navarro stayed in the residence for two weeks, the family said. Then he began “making demands and taking over her home,” relatives stated.

On Aug. 25, Garcia allegedly told Navarro that it was time for him to leave, her family said.

The request allegedly set Navarro off, according to relatives.

Navarro allegedly took up a metal baseball bat and began clubbing Garcia while she was sleeping, deputies said.

“She was in and out of consciousness, and every time she woke up, he would beat her again,” the family said.

The brutal ordeal lasted for hours, her family stated.

Navarro allegedly stopped the assault only after Garcia completely lost consciousness, according to relatives. Relatives said he walked away only because he apparently believed she was dead.

Navarro then took her phone, credit cards, keys, e-bike, and other belongings and fled, the family said.

Garcia survived the attack in her home, relatives said. But she suffered a traumatic brain injury, a brain bleed, and severe head and facial injuries, according to her family.

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said she suffered “a laceration to her forehead, cut eyebrow, swollen hands, and swollen orbital area to the point she was unable to clearly see.”

In addition, Garcia spent “days” vomiting blood following the beating, according to her family.

The grandmother could also require facial surgery to treat the damage, relatives stated.

Photographs from her hospital bed showed Garcia clad in a neck brace, with still-swollen eyes and a cast on her left arm. Family members described her as being in an unrecognizable state.

As of an online fundraiser posted this week, Garcia remains hospitalized, her family said.

Relatives said the grandmother is “medically stable” and taking small steps. But she is “still in immense pain, extremely dizzy, exhausted, and struggling with the effects of her brain injury,” her family wrote.

Garcia does not have health insurance to cover her medical care, according to relatives.

“Please keep my mom in your prayers,” the family wrote. “Pray for her healing, her strength, her vision, her recovery, and for the person responsible to be found.”

“We are incredibly grateful that she is still here,” relatives said.

“She survived the night she was left to die,” the family wrote. “Now we just want to give her every possible chance to heal.”

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the incident is being considered a battery with serious bodily injury.

Deputies released an image showing Navarro smugly smirking with brown hair and brown eyes, according to the sheriff’s department.

Navarro fled the Crestline home after the alleged assault, authorities said.

Sheriff’s officials urged anyone with information to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Twin Peak Station at 909-336-0660.

Navarro, whom police consider a suspect, has not been located, according to the sheriff’s department.