One of the victims of last month’s Venice canal attack was taken off life support late Friday, according to media reports and an online fundraising page.
Investigators say the woman was severely beaten and sexually assaulted following the April 6 attack and has been in a coma for nearly two months. She was surrounded by family and friends and her organs were donated, according to reports from KTLA-TV and a GoFundMe page set up for the woman’s memorial service.
The New York Times generally does not name victims of sexual assault.
Friends of the 53-year-old victim told KTLA she had just signed a lease on an apartment in Venice and planned to move there from Massachusetts, a lifelong dream. The mother-of-two had planned to have brunch with friends to tell them the news, but didn’t get the chance because she had been attacked the night before, according to the fundraising page.
The attack was one of two that took place less than a mile apart in Venice between 10:30 and 11:30 that night. A second woman who was brutally beaten survived.
Last month, she told The Times she was hit from behind while walking after get off work to meet her goal of 10,000 steps a day. She said in an interview at a hospital that she was recovering from at least eight fractures to her jaw, a large gash on the back of her head and bruises on her face and neck.
Last month, the District Attorney’s Office charged 29-year-old Anthony Francisco Jones with multiple counts in connection with the two attacks, including rape, torture and attempted murder. He remains jailed without bail, according to online inmate records.
Times staff writers Karen Garcia, Colleen Shalby and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
