Overview
- An 18-year-old hid in Ellen Halbert’s attic dressed in a “ninja” outfit and attacked her with a hammer and a large knife, including a sexual assault.
- Halbert survived and reached a phone to call her parents, and police arrested the suspect days later after he tried to cash a cheque he had forced her to write.
- Prosecutors did not bring rape charges at trial; he was convicted of attempted murder and received a life sentence.
- The aftermath included multiple surgeries, stress-related illnesses, and the breakdown of her marriage and career, which she says took years to rebuild.
- Halbert later served on the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and worked with Bridges to Life, using her experience to engage offenders on the impact of violent crime.