Mother's Day Attack Leaves Weldon Woman Dead

Hazel Sechler, 88, was on the telephone with a friend Sunday nightwhen a man broke in, slashed her throat, and stole some valuablesbefore running away. Sechler died Monday evening at Duke MedicalCenter.

Sechler's friends say that she was a kind woman who liked to relax withfriends on her front porch. Longtime friend Clinton Anderton remembersworking with Sechler at a railroad company in Roanoke Rapids. ForAnderton, Sunday's attack was frightening and appalling.

Police say that Sechler tried to fend off the attacker with her cane,but she could not struggle for long. Weldon Police Chief Karl Clark says the brazen attack on the woman was especially disturbing to him.

Investigators are working on a few leads, but neighbors in the quietHalifax County town want to know why someone would attack and killsuch a peaceful lady.