A young woman who was violently attacked during a Miami robbery is speaking out after her pooping pet dog helped nab the suspect.
Anita Rivella called Monday night's incident outside her apartment in Edgewater the scariest moment of her life.
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"I’m gonna die. Honestly, I thought it was like either a kidnapping, he was gonna rape me, I thought so much worse than just a robbery," Rivella said Friday.
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The 19-year-old had returned home from class at the University of Miami and had taken her pomeranian, Roulette, out for a walk.
She was returning to her condo in the area of Northwest 30th Street and 7th Avenue when Roulette left some droppings on the stairs.
When she knelt down to clean it up, the alleged robber struck.
"The guy, he just came from behind me and like choked me and like put his hand over my mouth, he told me not to speak or he’ll kill me with a knife, by showing me a knife," Rivella said.
Rivella said she started screaming, and eventually the suspect ran off with her bookbag and a bag containing her wallet and credit cards, according to an arrest report.
A short time later, police caught up with 62-year-old William Carroll, who matched the description of the robbery suspect.
Carroll was out of breath as though he'd been running, and police said they found some of the victim's credit cards near where he was detained, the report said.
When Carroll was interviewed by a detective he denied being involved in the robbery but the detective noticed a brownish stain on his shirt that matched the dog poop from the scene, the report said.
"Her like feces that I was trying to clean up got kind of messy on the whole crime scene and like ended up on my laptop, my school books," Rivella said.
She said Roulette deserves some of the credit for nabbing the suspect.
"A hundred percent, so she is a hero," she said.
Rivella still has a mark on her neck from the attack, and said she's carrying pepper spray and planning on taking some self-defense classes.
Carroll faces armed robbery and battery charges.
