Elderly Spring Lake woman beaten, robbed in backyard

Investigators said Samuel Lorenzo Davis, 17, of 1016 Karen Circle, and Fulton Lavelle Covington, 16, of 310 Scarborough St., approached May Taylor as she tended her birdfeeders in the backyard of her home on the 200 block of Scarborough Street on Saturday.

"When I started to open the gate, I saw him right there," Taylor said.

Davis told Taylor he was looking for his dog. 

"I took their word for it," she said, adding that she had seen a dog earlier in the day. But when she turned to point in the direction of where she saw the dog, Covington hit her on the back of the head with a brick, authorities said.

After Taylor fell to the ground, Covington continued to kick and beat her, demanding that she give him her car keys, authorities said.

"I have a bruise up here on my head and I was kicked all over and beaten on the ground," she said. "I said, all I was trying to do was help you."

She told the teens her keys were inside her residence on the kitchen counter.

The two left the residence with Taylor’s car and drove around with friends until Fayetteville police stopped the vehicle at a nearby fast-food restaurant, authorities said.

Davis and Covington are charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy and larceny of a motor vehicle.

They were being held under $100,000 bonds in the Cumberland County Detention Center on Monday.

Taylor was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where she was treated for a head wound. She said if she has learned one thing from the assault, it's that not everyone can be trusted.

"I'm jittery. One of my friends walked up to me and I didn't know she was there," she said. "She scared me to death."