Woman feared she, husband wouldn't survive Oakwood home invasion

Jahaad Tariem Allah Marshall, 27, is on trial for four home invasions in December 2012 and January 2013. He faces 23 charges, including attempted murder, first-degree sexual offense, attempted first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree burglary.

Jessica Beyer's home in the historic Oakwood neighborhood was the last of the four homes prosecutors say Marshall and his 17-year-old brother, Shabar Master Marshall, broke into and robbed. Shabar Marshall recently pleaded guilty to two of the home invasions, including the one at Beyer's house, but defense attorneys say there's no physical evidence linking Jahaad Marshall to any of the crimes.

Beyer recalled waking up on Jan. 7, 2013, when her husband said "What are you doing?" and then seeing two armed men standing in the doorway to the couple's bedroom. The men used stun guns on them and then ransacked their house, searching for things to steal, she said.

She said she was terrified and was hyperventilating, but her husband rubbed her foot as they sat in bed to comfort her.

The two intruders were angry that the Beyers didn't have much money in the house, she said, and they refused to take her jewelry when she suggested they take it.

Beyer said one of the men then forced her into the dining room, where he had her disrobe and perform a sex act at gunpoint.

WRAL News usually doesn't identify sex assault victims, but Beyer has spoken publicly in the past about the home invasion and her assault.

"I felt like they'd been there too long, and I thought we were going to be killed," she testified.

After she was taken back upstairs, the other intruder fondled Beyer, and her husband began calling out to her, she said.

"Where's my wife? Is my wife OK?" Jason Beyer shouted, his wife said.

"I thought I was about to get raped," she said, noting the situation suddenly became more chaotic.

As one of the men forced her back downstairs, she said, she saw her husband wrestling at the bottom of the stairs.

"I thought, if I could get door open and start making noise, they'd go away," she testified.

Beyer said she then vaulted over the railing, threw open the front door and ran screaming into her yard.

Her voice cracked when she told jurors she heard a gunshot from inside her house, and friends and family in the courtroom began to cry.

Jason Beyer was shot in the back, leaving him paralyzed. He is expected to testify next week.

Neighbor Mary Iverson said she heard a loud noise and a "blood-curdling scream" before finding a terrified Jessica Beyer at her door pleading for help.

"She practically collapsed," Iverson testified. "She was shaking and screaming, ‘They shot Jay.'"

Police arrested Marshall and his brother following a high-speed chase after the Beyer home invasion.

Earlier Friday, Curtis and Patricia Lovick testified about two men breaking into their home on Dec. 30, 2012. The couple said they were handcuffed to the frame of their bed while the intruders ransacked their house.

Patricia Lovick said she thought she was going to die.

"I think Jesus took my hand, and I don’t know how I would‘ve gotten out of it otherwise,” she testified.

She said the shorter of the two intruders – prosecutors claim that is Jahaad Marshall – appeared to be in charge of the operation and that the taller one seemed scared and nervous. The taller one gave her a blanket because she was cold and gave her husband a pillow for his back.

Curtis Lovick said he gave Raleigh police investigating his home invasion a warning about the two men: "I told police if they didn’t catch this guy someone was going to get murdered soon."