OLIVE BRANCH, MS -- WREG: A couple was terrorized, beaten and robbed.The couple said it was God that helped get them through.
Through sign language and translation help from their son, Diann and Jimmy Kelley said they were in their kitchen when three men Charles Gayles, Jeffrey Richardson, and Charlonte Smith broke through a back bedroom window, entered their home, shut the lights off and attacked them.
Diann Kelley, 68, said the men flipped over the kitchen table, tied her up with duct tape over her mouth, wrists, and ankles, and beat her husband over and over with the ends of their rifles.
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"He says they just kept beating him with the guns. He can’t count how many times they hit him," the Kelley's son, Kevin, said through translation. "His hands are all swollen they hit his hands because he was trying to cover his head. They broke that finger. They broke his ribs."
When the men left with duffle bags worth of their belongings, Diann was able to rip the tape off her mouth, find a knife to cut the tape from her ankles, and run for help.
Jimmy is now back at home after suffering two broken ribs, an ear that had to be stitched back together, and gashes in his head.
"She has no idea why,” Kevin said. “Maybe because they are Deaf, they are taking advantage of them not being able to hear. They weren't satisfied the first time with what they were able to get out?"
This wasn’t the first time the couple was targeted. Earlier in July, the couple said the same men entered through their garage door, but Jimmy was able to reach for a gun and start shooting, which caused the men to run.
Multiple police agencies searched for the men after Diann got help. One of the men was found in the attic and another was found several houses down. Diann said the man in the attic actually fell through the ceiling, and that is how officers found him.
"She said, ‘why should she let three boys win over her and scare her?’ She's not going to allow it,” Kevin said.
The family said thanks to prayers, they are making it through.
SOURCE - WREG
Related: Elderly Deaf Couple Had Been Dead Inside Home
