A Lakeview octogenarian couple woke up early Monday morning to find a man wearing a skeleton mask in their bedroom.
The intruder used a baseball bat to repeatedly beat the 83-year-old homeowner and ransack the home on the 3100 block of North Pine Grove Avenue. The man’s 80-year-old wife watched the whole thing happen.
The homeowner, Louis Rocah, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital where he was treated for head injuries and released. His wife appeared to be unharmed when the pair returned home. He was wearing a blue robe and had bandages wrapped around his head.
He declined to be interviewed.
According to a neighbor who claimed to have spoken to the the wife, Barbara, the couple was sleeping when their silent alarm sounded and the security company called. Ten minutes later, the assailant entered their room and hit the husband in the head with a bat and took his wallet.
The wife believes the assailant entered through the home's rear sliding glass door, according to the neighbor, who refused to be identified.
Police were searching the area for clues and trying to determine what, if anything, was taken from the home. They're searching for a man with a slim build who's between 6' and 6'1" and 180 to 190 pounds.
Neighbors say there's been a spat of break-ins recently in a neighborhood they described as "changing."
"People in our building now are making sure we lock our doors. It wasn't like that at first. It was real mellow and now everybody's so tense over there," said Yul Passmore, who lives in a nearby building.
Passmore said someone in his building woken up and beaten by three men just five days ago. Police said they've made an arrest in that case and are working to see if there's any relation or if any evidence collected will help them in this latest case.
"The elderly are supposed to be revered, not harmed," Passmore said.
