Woman badly beaten in brutal Mastic home invasion

Lucy Yang Image
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Woman beaten in violent home invastion in Mastic
Lucy Yang reports from Mastic.

MASTIC, Long Island (WABC) -- Police in Suffolk County are searching for suspects in a violent home invasion.

Family members say two armed men ripped the door off of a Mastic home around 5 a.m. Monday.

The mess, and damage, and trail of blood underscore the horror that happened inside the home.

Monday night 27-year-old Melissa Rivera was hospitalized with stitches and head injuries.

"They went into her bedroom here, and beat her with a gun in her head in here, you can see the blood right there," said Juan Rivera, the victim's father.

According to the victim's father, 4:30 Monday morning, two men, kicked in his daughter's back door and bashed her head with a gun.

Juan says they tore apart her normally pristine home while dragging her from room to room.

Before leaving, Juan says they threw drug bags on the floor saying now she would be arrested.

"The police came with their guns, they checked everything, they checked the house, there's no drugs in here," Juan said.

According to Juan, Melissa worked as a housekeeper and was in an abusive relationship for five years.

She tried to cut off ties with her boyfriend on Sunday by driving his clothes to his mother's house.

Hours later, two violent men broke into her home and beat her.

Juan says they knew she had security cameras so they took the computer console, her cell phone and car keys.

"She got a big scar over here, a big black eye," Juan said.

Melissa's 14-year-old nephew was staying with her at the time.

Eyewitness News is told he was threatened but not injured. Suffolk County Police confirm this was not a random attack.