MARLBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - A woman who fought off a man she says attacked her on a popular Marlboro walking trail Monday spoke out about what she was thinking in the moment and how she feels knowing a suspect is now behind bars.
Ana Paula Nascimento returned to the Assabet River Rail Trail Tuesday morning for a walk with her daughter. She usually comes alone but said she is not sure she ever will again after a man, later identified as 35-year-old Jonathan Parker allegedly attacked her and tried to pull off her pants around 6:30 a.m. Monday.
“I don’t know if he’s killing me,” Nascimento said she was thinking at the time.
“I scream and he just said, ‘Don’t scream, don’t scream. Why are you screaming,” she told 7NEWS. “I was just thinking about my life, and I don’t know if he’s killing me. If not, I don’t know if I’m OK?”
She was able to break free from him and said her instincts took over. She was able to record her attacker on video as he fled the area in the opposite direction.
“When he scared me, I came with my camera,” she said. “And then I remembered I can make a video from him and then I took the video.”
Police then shared that video with the public in the hopes that someone would help identify him. It was Parker’s friend of 20 years, Erin Balthazar who ended up turning him over to the authorities.
“I’m just glad she knows that he’s behind bars and that he’s off the streets and hopefully it doesn’t happen to anybody else,” Balthazar said.
Parker faced a judge on Tuesday on charges of assault to rape as well as assault and battery and ordered held without bail until he is back in court at the end of the week.
After suffering minor injuries to her mouth, arms and leg Nascimento said she is still fearful about what happened. She is also worried about the possibility of coming face-to-face with her alleged attacker in court.
“I feel OK when the detectives call me and they say he’s in the jail. We found him,” she said. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to see him.”
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