“I have been overwhelmed by the outcome of love and support of my friends,” said Judith Guido, in an email sent after surviving an attack by a member of a landscaping crew she had hired to work on her property.
Guido, chairperson of Guido & Associates and longtime industry consultant, was attacked July 5 outside her Moorpark, California, home by Abel de Jesus Monroy, 27. Monroy has since been arrested for attempted murder, attempted arson, residential burglary and animal cruelty, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
“I just got out off of ICU. I was attacked and beaten near death by a deranged landscaper,” Guido said in the July 11 email. “Thankfully God has longer term plans for me.
“What has been a part of my life for so long and has made me so happy suddenly frightened me and paralyzed me with fear. I refuse to give in to fear and the madman who tried to kill me.”
Guido was hit in the head with a pickaxe and found by Ventura County firefighters in the middle of the street, bleeding from the head, Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Mike McConville told the Ventura County Star. It appears that Monroy had a mental breakdown when he began chasing his co-worker with the pickaxe. Guido came into the yard to see what was going on, the newspaper reported, and Monroy turned his attention toward her.
Monroy reportedly killed Guido’s dog when it started barking, then turned back to her as Guido ran down the side of the house to the front of the home. At that point, Monroy went into the house and tried to set it on fire by turning on the stove burners, McConville told the newspaper. Fortunately, firefighters arrived and shut them off before any damage was done to the house.
Monroy was contacted by authorities in front of Guido’s home a few minutes later as firefighters attended to her wounds, the police report states.
“I am turning a nightmare into to a celebration of life, and will make our front yard the most healing, therapeutic, healthy and living garden you’ve even seen,” Guido said last week. “A place where people will sit and feel healthy, happy, rejuvenated and safe.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with Guido as she recovers.
