ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A St. Petersburg woman has died days after she was attacked with a hatchet by a man she let stay in her home, according to deputies.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said Lisa Rogers Eaton, 56, was finally pronounced dead at Bayfront Hospital at 11:04 p.m. Saturday.
Rogers Eaton’s sister, Donna Voye, said her family joined her in the hospital Saturday to pray and turn off the victim’s respirator.
Pinellas County deputies said they found the 56-year-old with a hatchet embedded in her head after she was attacked by Michael Dougherty, 40, of St. Petersburg Tuesday morning.
According to Voye, Doughtery was staying with Rogers Eaton and her husband after he lost his job, an act of goodwill on the couple’s part.
“We don’t understand it,” Voye said. “We can’t understand it because she wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
Deputies said Dougherty was later found at around 2:50 a.m. in Alachua County after a deputy pulled him over.
Initially, he was charged with attempted second-degree murder, but his charge has now been upgraded to second-degree murder.
“As good as a person she has done a whole life for her life at 56 years old, be taken away by someone that’s so mean,” Voye said. “Why? Why? It just doesn’t make any sense.”