Maria Olga Lugo Lopez (29) of Cuba was attacked on August 10, 2023 at her home in New Albany, Indiana at about 4:28 in the afternoon.
“My husband and I decided to end our relationship, because we weren’t understanding each other. He went to Missouri, and then came back 10 days afterwards to see our sons; we have two kids together. He came to my job; I worked at Wendy’s at the time. He told me he wanted to see the kids, but I told him he had to wait until my daughter got out of school.”
“He went to the house to see my mother and my 7-month old baby. When it was time for me to leave my job, he picked me up, and then we picked up my daughter at school. We got home, and my mom went to work at 4 p.m.”
“He told me he was going to go to the car to get something, then he went upstairs and then I told him to watch the kids because I was going to shower. When I went into the shower, I put my pajamas on the countertop, and then I felt him behind me. When I looked back, he had a knife in his hand.”
“He threw me on the floor, and then he cut me in front of my kids. He cut my neck in a few places, he cut my arm all over here, and [over my body]. I told him to stop because the kids were watching, and then he left because he thought I was dead. But then I got up.”
“I went to the kitchen, grabbed a towel, and put it around my neck out of desperation, and my arm stopped working altogether. I didn’t have any strength, and I lost a lot of blood. I asked my neighbor for help but she was scared; I understand now why she closed the door on me. I went downstairs, but I was pretty sure that she was going to call 911.”
Maria had sustained knife wounds and cuts to her neck (which was slit), her right hand, and left arm. She was also cut in her chest. “My mom got to the house, and there were literally 30 cop cars outside, in addition to the fire department and an ambulance. The police officer who saved me covered all of my wounds and pressed very hard to stop the bleeding. They put me in the ambulance, induced a coma, and then I woke up four days later at UofL Health. From the time that I was in the ambulance until four days later, I don’t remember anything.”
“The doctors told me I would never be able to move this arm again, but I have some mobility. I’m still working with physical therapists to try and recover some use.” She was in UofL Hospital for 11 days before being discharged to go home. Maria’s husband is currently in police custody, awaiting his appeal. He was sentenced to 30 years, with 8 additional years if he gets out early. Maria would encourage others in a similar violent situation to leave at the first sign of any kind of mistreatment; “The first punch in the wall, the first sign of verbal abuse. Never underestimate people, because they are very capable of doing horrible things.”
Olga Maria Lugo Lopez.
Fighter.
Trauma Survivor.
