Home Invader No Match For 82-Year-Old

ROCHESTER, NY — An 82-year-old woman who lives alone became a hero after becoming the target of a home invasion. A stranger first knocked on her door and then broke it down while Willie Murphy was getting ready for bed around 11 p.m. Thursday, ABC13WHAM reported.

She was already on the phone with 911 when the young man got in, because when he knocked, he asked for someone to call an ambulance because he was sick. She left the phone connection on, grabbed a table and broke it over the man's head, knocking him down. Then she jumped on him. Then she grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the kitchen and poured it on his face.

Then the police and ambulance arrived. Telling her story to television crews and to her friends at the Maplewood YMCA, where she works out every day, she said she thought the intruder looked happy to be carried away. Murphy, a prize-winning bodybuilder who can dead-lift 225 pounds, hopes her story will inspire others.

"I'm alone, and I'm old, but I'm tough," she said during the TV news segment.

"I probably weigh close to twice as much as her — I wouldn't want to tangle with her," friend Jim Marron told ABC13WHAM. "Don't mess with Willie."