UPDATE: Elderly Couple Recovering After Being Robbed, Beaten

A husband and wife known as the “grandparents” of their neighborhood are recovering after being beaten up and robbed in their home early Friday.

Dale and Dorothy Nachazel were hospitalized after being attacked. On Saturday evening, the couple’s daughter said that her father had just been released from the hospital, and her mother had been moved out of ICU. She said Dorothy was still very swollen and bruised, and had been treated for minor brain bleeding. The couple is in their 70s.

Police said three men broke into the couple’s home in the 2100 block of Grafton Drive, near the intersection of Jet Wing Drive and South Chelton Road, at about 6 a.m. Investigators said they brutalized the couple, beating them with a gun, and stole items, possibly including weapons.

“They’re the grandparents of our block. They were the grandpa and grandma for all the kids on this block,” said neighbor Carolyn Madrid-Sanchez. “It’s horrible.”

Madrid-Sanchez held a neighborhood meeting to talk about safety and pray for the couple Friday evening. She invited everyone on the block, making introductions and reassuring those new to the area that what happened is out of the ordinary.

“I just want you guys to know if ever, ever you’re in need, please feel safe to go knock on your neighbor’s door,” Madrid-Sanchez told the group that gathered in her driveway. “We got to know each other, that’s how we’re going to be safe.”

She said that neighbors had already started raising money for the couple, and planned to buy them a hotel room and gift cards for groceries when they’re out of the hospital. Neighbors said the couple had been planning to move to the East Coast.

“I hope that they feel better, and I hope they find a nice home to stay in and have more safety,” said Angell Lovato, a boy who said the Nachazels are “like family” to him.

The attackers are described as three black men in their late teens, early 20s. The robber who initially knocked on the door is believed to be about 5’8 and 140 pounds. If you have any information, call CSPD at 719-444-7000.