An Arizona mother fought off a man she says entered her home without permission and grabbed her by the neck after asking to use the bathroom, with the confrontation captured on home security video.
The footage shows Bella Torres striking and pushing back the man, identified by police as 20-year-old Adrian Ayala, outside her Buckeye home on Friday. As she confronted him, Torres asked, “What the f*** is wrong with you?”
Ayala appeared to be stumbling as he replied, “I was on drugs. I’m on drugs.”
He also claimed that Torres’ boyfriend had sent him. But when she asked Ayala for her husband’s name, he offered no answer.
As Torres’ husband arrived home and began walking toward them, Ayala ran from the property.
The frightening incident unfolded as Torres was preparing to take her children to a “Trunk or Treat” event, she told Arizona Family.
Her husband, who was dressed as Shrek for the event, had gone to a nearby store. Torres was home alone with their one-year-old daughter when she heard the alarm on the front door.
She initially assumed her husband had returned. Instead, a stranger opened the front door and walked inside.
Bella Torres described how an intruder entered her Buckeye, Arizona, home last Friday and grabbed at her throat
Surveillance footage shows Torres fighting off the man police identified as 20-year-old Adrian Ayala and forcing him back
“All he says is ‘Can I use your restroom?’ And as he says ‘restroom,’ he starts to charge at me and grabs my neck,” Torres recounted to 12 News.
Torres said the two struggled across the kitchen and bathroom floor. During the fight, she said, Ayala kicked her daughter and ordered her to remove her clothes.
“My first instinct is just to protect her,” Torres said of her daughter.
She eventually managed to break free and call out for help.
“I start running towards the door, it’s still wide open at this point,” she recalled. “I screamed as loud as I could for help.”
A neighbor heard her screams and contacted police.
By then, the struggle had moved outside, where security cameras recorded the mother defending herself against the alleged attacker.
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After reaching safety, Torres posted the footage on social media to alert her neighbors and help identify the suspect.
According to court documents obtained by Arizona Family, one of Ayala’s relatives recognized him in the video and notified Buckeye police.
Ayala faces several felony charges, including aggravated assault, burglary and sexual assault. He was released from custody on a $25,000 appearance bond
Ayala was caught on the surveillance footage approaching Torres’ home
Ayala could be heard saying in the footage that he was on drugs and claiming that Torres’ husband had sent him to the home
He declined to speak to police after he was taken into custody.
But at his initial court appearance on Sunday, an attorney for the 20-year-old called the entire situation ‘a giant misunderstanding.’
He claimed his client was drawn to the home by Torres’ husband for a ‘role playing scenario’ that the two men had agreed upon on Reddit.
‘He understood from the victim’s boyfriend that this is something that they did and the victim was consenting to,’ the lawyer argued.
Still, a judge found probable cause for several felony charges, including aggravated assault, burglary and sexual assault.
‘I don’t care if her husband said he could go in there and do that, that’s not a defense,’ the judge declared. ‘That’s problematic.’
His attorney called the entire situation ‘a giant misunderstanding’ at Ayala’s initial court appearance on Sunday
Torres is now fighting back against Ayala’s claims, insisting that he is a complete stranger to both her and her husband.
Neighbors had even seen Ayala walking around other houses in the area before he approached her house, Torres noted as she argued: ‘I just got caught in the crossfire.’
‘It’s just gross,’ she told 12 News. ‘I can’t count how many times I’ve tried to take a shower.’
She added that she will now be taking additional steps to keep her family safe, including by ‘getting more cameras.’
Court records show Ayala has been released from custody on a $25,000 appearance bond. In the meantime, police said they have obtained both Ayala’s phone and Torres’ phone to investigate his claims that the two coordinated the attack.
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