Florida Man Accused Of Attacking Woman In Head With Hatchet Arrested

A 40-year-old Florida man accused of ramming a hatchet into the head of a woman days before Thanksgiving has been arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) responded to a call about an attempted murder at the Silver Lake Mobile Home Park in St. Petersburg, Florida, just after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a press release from the PCSO.

When they arrived, they found the 56-year-old woman, identified by WFLA Tampa as Lisa Rogers Eaton, with a hatchet protruding from her head, deputies said.

The woman was miraculously still alive and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment of her life-threatening injuries.

The suspect, Michael Dougherty, fled the scene before law enforcement arrived.

Authorities were able to track him down near Gainesville, about 150 miles north of St. Petersburg. He was pulled over at around 2:50 a.m. on Thanksgiving day by an Alachua County deputy and then taken into custody.

Dougherty was charged with one count of second-degree attempted murder.

Dougherty is currently being held at Alachua County jail but is scheduled to be transferred to the Pinellas County Jail at a later date, the sheriff's office stated.

WFLA cited the sheriff's office as saying that Eaton was in stable condition in the hospital.

However, her younger sister, Donna Voye, told the outlet that they were preparing to take her off a respirator Saturday.

Voye said that family and friends were preparing to say their goodbyes to her sister, whom she described as someone who would "help anybody."

She said Eaton was letting Dougherty stay with her and her husband after he lost his job.

"We don't understand it," Voye told WFLA. "We can't understand it because she wouldn't hurt anybody."

"No family should ever get a call like we got telling us that or them that their family member is brutally attacked as our little sister was," she added.

Left heartbroken, the family of Eaton continues to ponder why such a thing would befall her.

"As good as a person she has done a whole life for her life at 56 years old, be taken away by someone that's so mean," Voye said. "Why? Why? It just doesn't make any sense."

Eaton's family is now trying to raise money for her funeral.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the incident.