Southeast Austin woman strangled in her backyard

A Southeast Austin woman says she was attacked in her own backyard. She says the man strangled her when she went to let her dogs out on Sunday night.

Alexis Lopez thinks the man got in through an unlocked gate. She says she has to leave it unlocked so the City of Austin can check her electric meters.

She says the attacker unscrewed her porch light bulb and smashed it, and that when she opened the back door to let her dogs out, he attacked her, strangling her with an extension cord. She says she tried to scream but he pulled the cord harder. Her dogs and the neighbor's dogs were barking. And when the man heard Alexis' boyfriend coming, he knocked her down, stomped on her foot, and took off jumping a fence.

“The way I felt,” she says, “it was more like hatred. But I don't know him. I've never met someone that would hurt me. I don't have enemies. I have friends and I have acquaintances but nobody that would hurt me.”

She says she didn't see his face, but was able to give police a vague description. She says he’s “a black man, about 6' tall. He was wearing athletic shorts, a gray hoodie, tube socks, and Nike slide sandals.” She says he was also wearing a large silver ring with diamonds.

Austin police tell FOX 7 the investigation is ongoing.