Man found guilty of beating 80-year-old

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) -- A man arrested and charged with torture, home invasion, armed robbery, fleeing and eluding police and cutting the phone lines to an 80-year-old woman's home has been found guilty on all counts.

Randall Lachniet, 47, forced his way into Betty Oosterhouse's home on Farnham near Division on Sept. 7. She recognized him from doing some roof work on her home, and he had claimed he needed to use the phone.

Once he was in, he grabbed a paring knife and demanded her ATM numbers. When she wouldn't comply, it led to the assault.

Lachniet attacked Oosterhouse -- breaking her jaw, knocking out several teeth and giving her a concussion.

She testified against him Tuesday.

"I was just trying to get the knife away from my throat," she said. "I was just trying to get his hands off my throat, which, they were there part of the time. And I was just trying to survive. I wasn't paying attention to anything but getting free and getting rid of the knife."

Lachniet took the stand in his own defense Thursday. He told a jury he hadn't slept in days before the attack, which was fueled by a crack cocaine addiction.

"Once you start smoking crack, you have a one-track mind," he said. "You don't think about anything else other than getting more crack.

"I hit her in the temple, the side of the head in an attempt to get her to stop biting me. She kept on, though. She latched on really, really well."

After the guilty verdict came down, Oosterhouse spoke with 24 Hour News 8.

"I just made up my mind he was not going to be in control of my life, my personality or my spirit," she said of the attack. "I just wasn't going to give it over to him.

"How sad. What a wasted life. What unfortunate choices when he had so much chance to make other ones. I think it's really, really sad, not only for him but for anyone that throws their life away. Because life can be so great."

Oosterhouse said she is pleased with the verdict, and the fact that Lachniet will be sentenced to prison.

A fund for Betty Oosterhouse has been established. Anyone wishing to contribute may do so through any Fifth Third Bank location. The money will be used to help cover her legal costs and for dental work to repair her teeth.