Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Carrie Smith has much to be thankful for this holiday season.
Her mother, who wasn’t expected to survive a brutal attack that left her with multiple stab wounds, is slowly getting better in a Fort Worth hospital.
“She’s improving every day,” Smith said Monday afternoon from John Peter Smith Hospital. “She’s doing way better than ever expected at this point.”
Her mother, Belinda Lane, 67, was one of two women repeatedly stabbed with a kitchen knife in a Thanksgiving Eve rampage by a 20-year-old man who apparently was high on drugs, Sheriff Roger Deeds said.
The other woman, Kimberly Lynn Harmony, 50, did not survive the bloody attack.
Her body was found at Lane’s home in the 3900 block of Peak Road southwest of Granbury.
Jacob Russell Shaw was arrested at the scene and later charged with murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to animals.
He killed a dog and stabbed others, Deeds said.
Lane knew the alleged attacker, befriending him by giving him odd jobs and letting him sleep on the couch, Deeds said.
Lane’s husband has cancer, and Harmony, a neighbor, was at the residence helping them when the rampage began, the sheriff said.
Lane’s mother was airlifted to JPS Hospital for emergency surgery for stab wounds to her head and chest. She’s had other surgeries since.
“They pretty much told us she wouldn’t make it the first night,” Smith said. “God has plans for her obviously. I’m very thankful at the point where she is. I didn’t expect her to be doing this well this fast. Don’t get me wrong. She has a long way to go.”
Lane has been communicating by writing notes, her daughter said.
“We’re taking baby steps,” Smith said.
Smith, a Lampasas resident, said she has many thoughts about the ordeal.
“There’s anger, I’m sad, it’s scary. There’s so many different emotions.
“You would never think something like this would happen to your own family, and there you are.”
Smith and her four sisters were reared in Granbury (the Miller family lived on Kessler Drive). Her mother worked as a nurse, retiring this year from a Fort Worth hospital. Through the years she worked at nursing homes in Granbury.
Smith’s father died a year and a half ago.
Shaw was still in jail at press time on bonds totaling $510,000.
The sheriff’s office and the Texas Rangers continue to investigate the case.
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