Cape Coral senior attacked while checking on rental property

CAPE CORAL, Fla. Brutally attacked, bruised and battered.

77-year-old Erika Lambertus, a property manager in Cape Coral, was checking on one of the homes on Thursday when she heard someone inside.

Lambertus recognized the intruder as her former neighbor’s relative Dennis William Jr. Testa, 40, of Fort Myers.

“She [Lambertus] called him out by name and she said, ‘Dennis what are you doing here?'” Lambertus’s daughter Tanja Acuti said. “She pulled out her phone and said to him, ‘I’m going to call 911.'”

Testa, who was arrested Friday, is accused of ransacking the home, brutally beating up Lambertus and crushing her phone to restrain her from calling authorities.

Lambertus was able to contact her daughter and told her to call an ambulance.

“She said, ‘I’m all broken. I need you to call an ambulance,'” Acuti said.

Lambertus remained at a local hospital Saturday with three broken bones in her face. Doctors believe it will be a long road to recovery.

“I did not recognize my mother. If they hadn’t told me that that’s my mom in that bed, I wouldn’t have known,” Acuti said. “She was covered in blood and her face is like double the size of her regular self.”

Although they have many unanswered questions as to why this happened, Lambertus and her daughter hope the suspect will remain behind bars for a long time.

Testa faces charges of aggravated battery and burglary and is expected to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 13.