Alleged attacker found hiding under blanket after ‘brutal’ home invasion, police say
The beating of an elderly couple in a Henderson home invasion early Saturday was so severe that their alleged attacker was left covered “head to toe” with their blood, according to the suspect’s arrest report.
Phillip Richardson, who was found hiding under a blanket inside the victims’ home, is facing several felonies, including, battery with a deadly weapon, home invasion and robbery with a deadly weapon, Henderson Justice Court records show.
On Wednesday, he remained at the Henderson Detention Center with a $250,000 cash bail, according to records. Should he be released, Richardson will be submitted to high-level monitoring with a “stay away order.”
One of the victims called 911 about 5:45 a.m. in the midst of the invasion to report that he was being attacked in his home near Paseo Verde Parkway and Stephanie Street, police said.
The victim told a dispatcher that “he didn’t know how the suspect entered the house but believed he was still in the living room,” police said.
A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured Richardson, 38, in his backyard about two hours before the couple was attacked, said police, adding that the suspect had been wearing a blue hospital gown he removed before the invasion.
Police said Richardson broke a kitchen window and used a tarp to enter the house. Cameras inside the house recorded much of the attack, according to the report.
Richardson first attacked the man who had confronted him and then the victim’s wife, police said.
Police said the “brutal” attack left blood splattered throughout the house.
The victims suffered substantial injuries that included broken bones and cuts, said police, noting that the woman’s injuries, which included multiple skull fractures, were more severe.
The couple was rushed to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where the woman had been listed in critical but stable condition.
Police said she will require multiple surgeries. Richardson wasn’t interviewed because he “appeared to be in an altered state,” according to the report.
He is due in court on May 1.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
