HOUSTON – A woman was waiting for a bus when a man came up behind her and attacked her.
Ashley Anderson is a talented student artist who paints futuristic, fanciful and beautiful pictures.
But 10 days ago, she became the victim of an ugly attack.
It happened on Martin Luther King Day at a METRO bus stop near the intersection of Ocee and Richmond around 6:45 a.m. on that very dark, foggy morning.
Anderson said she was standing alone and waiting for the bus when a man walked up to her drinking orange juice. Anderson said the man seemed a little nervous, but she didn't think much of it.
He disappeared behind her for just a moment before he started attacking her.
"He hit me in the back of the head with a hammer three times," Anderson said. "I wound up having to have titanium mesh put into my head because he caved the back of my skull in."
The attack was so brutal, Anderson had to undergo surgery, where doctors removed pieces of her skull from her quickly swelling brain. Now, Anderson is recovering at home.
Doctors said Anderson sustained a traumatic brain injury. Anderson said she does not have medical insurance to pay for her bills.
As for Anderson's attacker, he got away with less than $2 in change that he scraped out of Anderson's purse.
Houston police said they have an active investigation going, but Anderson's attacker is still on the loose.