A New Jersey mom who was stabbed by a random teen ‘high on mushrooms’ in her home has described the terrifying attack and revealed his last words to her.
Donna Ongsiako was about to go to bed in her Colts Neck farmhouse in 2013 when she saw a stranger standing on her porch with a knife.
The man forced his way inside and stabbed her repeatedly before stealing her car and leaving her for dead.
‘He said, ‘you dead b***h’ and plunged the knife into my chest,’ Ongsiako told CBS.
Police identified her attacker as then-16-year-old Brennan Doyle. At his trial, Doyle claimed to have taken psychedelic mushrooms which turned him ‘into a monster’ before he attacked her. In 2015, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Donna Ongsiako was attacked in July 2013 while she was home alone
Police identified her attacker as then-16-year-old Brennan Doyle who lived nearby
The attack happened on July 7 of 2013, around midnight when Ongsiako was at home on her own as her adult daughter was out at a party.
She was going to bed when she went to open the door to let her cat in and found a stranger standing on her porch.
The young man was cutting into the screen of the window.
‘I tried to slam and shut the door. He stuck the knife through the opening, and I cut my finger so that I immediately let go of the door. And then he pushed his way in,’ she said.
Without saying anything, he stabbed her repeatedly.
She collapsed to the floor and he started to speak, asking her for her car keys and a lighter.
She told him the items were on the kitchen table and he took them, along with her purse.
He turned to leave, but then came back towards her, she said: ‘He said, “you dead b***h” and plunged the knife into my chest.’
Donna Ongsiako was about to go to bed in her Colts Neck farmhouse when she went to let in her cat
The man forced his way inside and stabbed her repeatedly before stealing her car and leaving her for dead
She was rushed to hospital where she underwent seven hours of surgery
Donna’s daughter (pictured) was out at the time and returned home to find police outside
He left and Ongsiako managed to crawl upstairs to reach her phone and call the police.
She was rushed to hospital and underwent seven hours of surgery.
She managed to describe her attacker, telling police he looked about 17 and had long blonde curly hair and a backpack.
Shortly after the attack, Monmouth County Detective Andrea Tozzi received a call from workers at a nearby Taco Bell.
They said a young man had walked through the drive thru with a knife knocking on windows. A customer helped police create a sketch and they found Ongsiako’s stolen car abandoned behind a movie theater.
Then a tip came in which led officers to 16-year-old Doyle who lived nearby.
He fit the description and the tipster said that he had recently cut his long hair.
Police went to his home to confront him at the end of July.
Tozzi said: ‘I wanted to see if [Brennan] cut his hair. He was wearing a baseball hat. You could tell his hair was cut short.’
In the fall, workers at the mall where Ongsiako’s car was abandoned, found a knife on the roof of the bowling alley.
Police found a similar knife in Doyle’s home and arrested him.
Police created a sketch of Doyle and then received a tip about his identity
At the trial, Doyle claimed that he had taken magic mushrooms on the night of the attack and had lost touch with reality
Doyle was sentenced to 15 years in state prison
Doyle told the court at the time: ‘The drugs turned me into a monster that night, I am truly sorry.’
He was charged with six counts including attempted murder and carjacking. He pleaded not guilty and then changed his plea to guilty of carjacking and attempted murder. The prosecution dropped the remaining charges.
At the trial, he claimed that he had taken magic mushrooms on the night of the attack and had lost touch with reality.
He told the court at the time: ‘The drugs turned me into a monster that night, I am truly sorry.’
Doyle was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.
Ongsiako has been about the attack to raise awareness and support other victims of random attacks.
She said: ‘You just keep going. I did what I had to do to be here today, you know, and go another day.’