She means business: ‘I’m old, but I’m a fighter’ says 81-year-old
You should really read the whole thing here.
Two young men are lucky 81-year-old Yolanda Croyle didn’t live out her dream.
“I always had bad dreams that someone breaks in,” Croyle said Friday. “When I wake up, it’s still fresh in my mind and I think to myself, ‘I’m prepared. I’m going to pull their eyes out, but I’m not going to kill them. I’m going to let them live and suffer.’”
Croyle paused, then laughed softly.
“I’m old, but I’m still a fighter.”
On Thursday afternoon, as Croyle pulled up to her home after one of her frequent visits to a Subway restaurant, she was shocked to see a man running from her home carrying two bags full of her belongings.
Before he had a chance to load the bag into a car, the man saw Croyle, dropped the bags and ran. She followed him in her van for two blocks until she caught up with him, rolled down her window and told him, “You’re in trouble, boy.”
[…]
She said that when she caught up to Rivera, she first looked to see whether he was carrying a weapon (he wasn’t), then got out of her van to talk to him.
“I knew the cops had to come, so I kept killing time,” Croyle said.
“He was bargaining with me, he said, ‘Take me back and I’ll give you everything back.’ He admitted to taking everything.”
Croyle, in an effort to make Rivera believe she was taking him back to her home, told Rivera to give her his name and phone number, then ordered him to get into her van.
Once in the van, Rivera let Croyle take his picture with her cellphone.
“I told him, ‘I’m going to take a picture of you so you don’t come back,’ and he let me,” Croyle said with surprise in her voice.
[…]
Croyle said Rivera and Dominguez are lucky not to have run into her 6-foot, 2-inch son, who’s known for his fiery temper. Croyle’s son probably would have killed the men on first sight, Croyle said. “I wonder where he gets that from?” she said with a mischievous grin.
Watch her tell the story herself, calm and composed, with her grandson next to her, nervous and proud.