‘I was dying’: Hilton Head Island woman seeks answers after chemical attack
By Grace Rodriguez
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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, South Carolina (WJCL) — A Hilton Head Island woman is speaking out exactly one year after two people attacked her and poured chemicals on her arm, chest and leg during a robbery on Dec. 20, 2024. The attack took place as she was heading home from a bank along Whooping Crane Way.
WJCL 22 News sat down with Maria Hernandez, where she recalled the incident in Spanish.
“I told the robbers, ‘Take my car, take my things, but leave me alone,'” Hernandez said. “That’s when they poured the chemicals on me. I was wearing two jackets that night, and they burned right through them. If I hadn’t put my hand up in defense, they would’ve burnt my face, too.”
Moments after the attack, she called her daughter.
“I told my daughter that I am dying. She screamed at her siblings: ‘Listen to what Mom says. I don’t know if she’s joking,'” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said she continues to face months of treatment and that she’s still searching for answers.
“Today marks one year that I was attacked by two people, and regrettably, no one has come forward and taken responsibility.”
She said the attack not only left her on medication for her wounds, but for depression and to help her sleep. She says it’s completely changed her lifestyle. Once a woman who loved to wear sleeveless dresses, it now pains her to look at them in her closet because of the scars on her arm.
“I feel embarrassed when people look at me, and I see they stare at me,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez says her injuries don’t compare to those suffered by Ashley Wasilewski, a woman attacked with chemicals near Forsyth Park in Savannah on Dec. 10.
“I can’t imagine what she is suffering through, especially since she was burnt more than me. I am angry more than anything else at the people who did this,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said she can’t celebrate the holidays with her family. All she wants this holiday season is for someone to come forward.
“I ask for justice. I asked the police to reopen my case again, that they investigate further. They told me they would look into satellite cell phone records, to see if there were anyone nearby that could have done this, but I don’t know what happened,” Hernandez said.
We reached out to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office for an update on Hernandez’s case and are waiting for a response.
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