'They were going to kill her': Mother of 4 beaten, carjacked outside rural home

A central Alberta family is angry and frustrated after a mother of four was beaten on her rural property in central Alberta last week.

The woman was attacked while speaking with her father on a cellphone, her sister told CBC.

"My dad said she was pleading with them for her life," Nicole Safron said. "They were telling her they were going to shoot her in the face, they were going to kill her."

Safron said her sister Jolene Puffer and the rest of the family are still struggling with what happened on the morning of Oct. 23 south of Eckville.

Last Wednesday at around 8:45 a.m., two women were dropped off by a pickup truck in front of the garage of her sister's home, Safron said.One woman was carrying a blue duffelbag.

Puffer, at home with two of her children, one a newborn, phonedher husband. He called 911 while she called a neighbour.

• RCMP charge 2 women following assault, carjacking near Sylvan Lake

Puffer then turned on an outside siren that her father had installed after a recent break in, which prompted the women to move closer towardthe road, Safron said.

Puffer decidedto follow them in her SUV.

"Ittakes police so long to get out to these rural areas and these people disappear and then come back the next night or next week," Safron said.

Puffer stopped near a grassy ditch where the two women were hiding.

Puffer'sneighbour drove up. They sawthepickup that had dropped off the two womendrive across a fieldthrough barbed-wire fences in the direction of the home of Puffer'ssister, Amanda Safron.

Puffer's neighbourdrove away to check onSafron. The incident took a violent turn when Puffer took her eyes off the women to call her father.

"My sister said she turned her head for one second and the girls managed to get her car door open," Nicole Safron said.

The women punched and kicked her sister, while herfather listened onthe phone, she said.

"He thought they were going to kill her before he could get to her."

The two women got into the SUVand drove off.

The SUVwas seen travelling at a high rate of speed on Highway 11 toward Red Deer and"driving erratically" on Highway 2 as it entered the city, RCMP said.

The SUV was involved in two collisions in Red Deer, before the women were stopped.

The pair now faceeight weapons charges and one for robbery.

Theblue duffelbag abandonedon Puffer's property contained two firearms.

The truck thatdropped off the women was found on fire in a nearby field. RCMP believe the driver then stole anothervehicle from a nearby property.

When Safron saw her sister later in the day, Puffer's face was "completely black and blue," she said.

"Swollen eyes, a cracked lip, multiple cuts on her face and her ears were all mashed up."

Safron believes the two women came to her sister's home with the intention of robbing her.

People need to know crimes are happening "all too often" on rural properties, she said.

"What I would like to see changed is people being able to protect themselves.

"They need to protect themselves with whatever means necessary to save their families," Safron said.

'Crack houses and chop shops'

Residents believe some of the rural crime is connected to "crack houses and chop shops being set up in the country," she said.

"Police need to do whatever it takes to shut these places down."

RCMP Cpl. Laurel Scott urges people to report any suspicious activity and "not try to solve the crimes."

"If you see a variety of cars coming and going that would be what we would call suspicious activity," Scott said, adding that police may already be aware of a problem property.

"There's often a lot of behind the scenes investigation that has to happen before we lay charges," Scott said. "We have to do things strategically."

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A community meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Evergreen Community Hall in Condor, Alta., about 50 kilometres west of Red Deer to discuss rural crime, Safron said.

RCMP from Rocky Mountain House and Sylvan Lake are expected to attend.

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer has been touring the province discussing rural crime with residents. He is holding a meeting in Rocky Mountain House on Nov. 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lou Soppit Community Centre.