A victim of last month's attacks on Venice's canals was taken off life support Friday night, according to media reports and an online fundraising page.
According to investigators, the woman had been in a coma for nearly two months after the April 6 attack, in which she was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. She was surrounded by family and friends and her organs were donated, according to a KTLA-TV report and a GoFundMe page created for the woman's memorial service.
The Times generally does not name victims of sexual assault.
Friends of the 53-year-old victim told KTLA that he had just signed a lease for an apartment in Venice and planned to move there from Massachusetts in what they described as a lifelong dream. The mother of two had planned to meet friends for lunch to tell them the news, but she never got the chance because she was attacked the night before, according to the fundraising page.
The attack was one of two that took place less than a mile away in Venice between 10:30 and 11:30 that night. A second woman who was brutally beaten survived.
Last month she told The Times that she had gone for a walk after work to reach her daily goal of 10,000 steps when she was hit from behind. She spoke from a hospital where she was recovering from at least eight jaw fractures, a large cut on the back of her head and bruising on her face and neck.
Last month, the district attorney's office charged Anthony Francisco Jones, 29, with multiple charges in connection with both attacks, including rape, torture and attempted murder. He remains jailed without bond, according to online inmate records.
Times staff writers Karen Garcia, Colleen Shalby and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
