BRACEVILLE From hospital bed, stunned victim describes robbery and shooting

The victim says she could only think about the world's crazy people when shot.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BRACEVILLE -- Sandra Stesan described herself as "stunned" after a home intruder unexpectedly shot her.
"All I could think about were all those crazy people in the world," the 64-year-old Stesan recalled Monday from her hospital bed.
On Sunday, surgeons inserted a plate and screws to repair her left arm broken by a bullet above the elbow. She doesn't know when she'll be discharged.
Meanwhile, police continue to watch out for the 2001 maroon Saturn in which the intruder made his getaway.
The crime
It was about 6:45 p.m. Saturday went Stesan returned to her rural Kale-Adams Road home after dropping off her grandson in North Jackson.
Stesan said she went into the house through a back door. She could hear the man she later described as being white, 35 to 40 years old, clean-shaven and wearing a dark blue sweat shirt and jeans.
Suddenly, she confronted him in the kitchen.
"He said he wanted money. I told him I didn't have any. I don't keep much money around," Stesan said.
The man had a set of her keys he picked up while ransacking her home. He wanted to drive off with a car in the garage, but she told him it didn't work.
"I started to back up and he shot me," Stesan recalled.
"I was stunned," she said.
Stesan explained that her assailant used a sheet taken from her ranch-style house, tore it into pieces and tied her hands behind her back. He then gagged her, also with a length of the sheet.
The intruder went through the house again looking for money, drugs or jewelry. He finally left with a suitcase he took from the home.
"I don't know what he took. I haven't been back at the house," she said.
Stesan remained bound and gagged until about 8:15 p.m. when her companion, Garen Jackson, arrived home from work.
Jackson untied her, helped her off the floor and called 911.
A peaceful neighborhood
The only trouble in her neighborhood that she could recall was a few years ago when a rash of house break-ins occurred. Five men were eventually arrested, she said.
Stesan said her home wasn't bothered at that time, she suspects, because she kept some big dogs then. She doesn't have them anymore.
She is considering putting deadbolt locks on her doors, but that wouldn't have worked Saturday because the thief got in through the bathroom window.
"You hate to put bars on the windows because you might want to get out," she said.
yovich@vindy.com