Authorities arrested a woman accused of brutally beating another woman who is pregnant with her boyfriend’s child, then giving a statement to authorities denying the attack ever took place.
Gheonna Lacy was hospitalized after an assault on Jan. 15, right outside her job site at an assisted living facility in Racine, Wisconsin.
The pregnant mother of two said she had just completed her third shift and was warming up her car to prepare to leave work when she was ambushed by two hooded figures.
“They just immediately knocked me to the ground. Started swinging the bat. Stomping me with their feet,” Lacy told WISN.
The assailants allegedly followed Lacy to her job, then waited for the moment she was alone.
Surveillance video captured the moments a man carrying a baseball bat and a woman set upon her car. While the footage doesn’t show the attack, Lacy can be heard screaming for help.
Lacy said she didn’t know the man, but recognized the woman as someone who had been stalking her over a dispute linked to a romantic relationship.
“She was saying to kill the baby. To get the baby,” Lacy said of the woman who attacked her. “As a pregnant person, you feel like you’re safe. Like no one is going to touch you.”
Authorities later arrested 38-year-old Marielle Barrios and charged her with armed robbery with use of force, substantial battery and attempted aggravated battery to an unborn child.
According to a criminal complaint cited by WDJT, Lacy told investigators that she heard Barrios say, “Beat the baby out,” and “Kill that baby,” while passing an aluminum bat back and forth with a male suspect wearing a hoodie and face mask. Barrios’s mask slipped down during the attack, revealing her face.
Lacy also said Barrios went through her pockets and stole her cellphone and a cellphone belonging to her boss. Officers noted a visible bruise to her stomach that was “consistent with a shoe impression.”
The day after the assault, Barrios visited the police department to drop off a statement denying the attack and calling the victim’s statement false, according to the complaint.
She was arrested in Arkansas on Jan. 23.
A second woman who was sheltering her was also arrested for harboring or aiding a felon.
A GoFundMe page created by Lacy’s employer states that the attackers “repeatedly kicked and stomped on” Lacy, leaving her with injuries to her stomach, face, and other parts of her body.
Doctors reported that her baby is in stable condition. She is currently six months pregnant with her third child.
Lacy said she is still traumatized by what happened, saying the attack “replays in my head every time I close my eyes.
“They had no remorse for me,” she told WTMJ. “I had to change my locks, just in case. I have cameras on my front and back doors now. I don’t want to leave the house.”
Police are still working to track down the male attacker.
