An Arizona mother fought off a stranger who allegedly burst into her home and attacked her and her one-year-old daughter.
Bella Torres, a resident of Buckeye, Arizona, told 12 News that the encounter began last Friday when an unknown man appeared at her door with a simple request. “All he says is, ‘Can I use your restroom?’ And, as he says restroom, he starts to charge at me and grabs my neck,” she said.
Torres alleges the man forced her to the ground, kicked her daughter, and demanded she remove her clothes. She managed to escape outside, screaming for help, then continued fighting him as the assault unfolded.
Security cameras at Torres’s home captured portions of the confrontation. In the footage, Torres can be heard shouting, “What the f–k is wrong with you?” as she tries to block the suspect.
The suspect responded with an unusual claim during the struggle. “I am on drugs,” he said, before offering a bizarre explanation that Torres’s boyfriend had sent him. “He told me he was into this,” the man claimed.
When Torres pressed him for her husband’s name, the suspect fell silent. The encounter ended when Torres’s husband returned home in his car and the suspect fled.
Surveillance footage helped police arrest the suspect within 24 hours. Authorities identified him as Adrian Ayala, 20.
During Ayala’s arraignment, his attorney advanced an unusual defense. The lawyer claimed Ayala had been invited by Torres’s husband to participate in a consensual role-play scenario.
The judge rejected that argument outright. Even if the husband had agreed to such a scenario, the judge stated, it would not constitute a valid legal defense.
Ayala was released on a $25,000 secured appearance bond and is expected back in court later in the week.
Torres had never seen Ayala before he appeared at her doorstep, she told 12 News. The attack left her fighting to protect both herself and her young child from an assailant whose explanation, captured on camera, only deepened the mystery of his motive.