We all think about it. Lying in bed at night, we run the scenarios in our heads about what we’d do if somebody ever tried to violate our space. Where we’d run, what we’d grab, who we’d call. Well, Bella Torres didn’t get to just think about it. She had to live it, and according to what she told 12News, the whole thing unfolded in less than ten minutes last Friday.
Torres says she was home with her one-year-old daughter when a stranger opened her front door. No knock. No hello, no nothing! He asked to use her restroom, she says, and before the question had even settled in the air, he lunged at her. Torres says he grabbed her by the neck, took her to the ground, and kicked her daughter. She also says he demanded she undress.
Instead of freezing up, Torres went into defense mode. “My first instinct is just to protect her,” she said of her daughter. That instinct carried her toward the door, which was still hanging wide open, and she broke free. Her scream was loud enough to be picked up by her home surveillance camera, and that same camera recorded the fight that spilled out onto her driveway. Torres has since shared the footage with the station. In the clip, the man can allegedly be heard saying he was on drugs and that her boyfriend had sent him.
The scuffle ended when her husband pulled up. The man ran off once Torres’ husband returned home.
A suspect was eventually arrested within 24 hours and identified as 20-year-old Adrian Ayala. That is where the story goes even more left. At his initial appearance on Sunday morning, Ayala’s attorney called the whole thing a misunderstanding. The defense claims the young man was lured to the home by Torres’ husband for a so-called role-play scenario, and that Ayala believed the woman had agreed to it. Now, Torres flatly rejects that. She told 12News that Ayala is a total stranger to both her and her husband.
Court records show Ayala was released on a $25,000 secured appearance bond. He has not been convicted of anything.