Elderly woman has no recollection of beating

Ruth Ann Struble has kept her mother's home almost like it was found after the Feb. 15 assault so that people would remember "how heinous the crime was."

A Highway Patrol trooper found Lola Nye lying on the hallway floor in her Orrum home amid shattered glass and spattered blood. She suffered broken bones, deep cuts, major head trauma and lingering anxiety.

"It's just sad that you can't live in your own home and feel safe," Struble said. "She would very much like to live here again, but that's not a possibility. It's not safe."

Authorities charged Montrexe Daytoria Blue, 16, of 10877 N.C. Highway 130 in Orrum, with attempted first-degree murder, breaking and entering, larceny of a motor vehicle, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and felony conspiracy. She was released on bond but is expected to make a court appearance on Thursday.

A 14-year-old Whiteville boy, whose name hasn't been released because of his age, also was charged in the case. He remains in juvenile detention.

Investigators said Nye's assailants beat her to steal her car. The state trooper found the vehicle abandoned in a swamp 3 miles from Nye's home, which prompted him to check on her.

Authorities arrested Blue and the boy after seeing video from Orrum Middle School's surveillance camera, which is across the street from Nye's house.

"What they did to her has ruined the rest of her life," Struble said. "They have ruined the last eight months of my life, my sister's life (and the lives of) my children."

The medical bills for her mother's treatment have topped $100,000, she said.

Nye has no recollection of the beating, Struble said.

"I think that's God's gift to her," she said.