A Buckeye, Arizona, mother says a man walked through her front door and grabbed her neck on Friday while she prepared for Trunk or Treat with her children. According to the Daily Mail, home security footage shows Bella Torres striking the man and shoving him away. She posted the clip online to alert neighbors and help locate him.
Torres told 12 News that her partner had left for a nearby store, leaving her alone with her toddler daughter when the door alarm sounded. She first assumed he was back. Instead, she states, a stranger asked whether he could use the bathroom, then attacked her, lunging and grabbing her neck. They struggled on the kitchen and bathroom floors, and she says the man also attacked her daughter. “My first instinct is just to protect her,” Torres stated.
She fought him off, ran toward the open door, and screamed for help, and a neighbor called police. The struggle spilled outside, where the camera kept recording. In the footage, the man appears unsteady and tells her he is on drugs. He then claims her partner sent him, and when she asks for the partner’s name, he does not answer. He leaves after her partner comes home.
Suspect faces felony charges
Police identified the man as a 20-year-old named Adrian Ayala. A relative watched the footage, then contacted Buckeye police, court documents show, and officers arrested him the next day. He was booked on suspicion of sexual assault and other offenses. At his first hearing on Sunday, a judge determined that probable cause supported several felony counts, among them sexual assault, burglary and aggravated assault. Ayala is accused, and he has not been convicted of anything.
His attorney called the situation “a giant misunderstanding.” The lawyer claimed that Torres’ partner had drawn his client to the home for a “role playing scenario” and that the woman had agreed to it. The judge responded that “that’s not a defense.” Ayala walked out under a $25,000 bond, and a preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 27.
Torres rejects the attorney’s claim. She says Ayala has no connection to her or her partner, and neighbors saw him wandering near other homes before he reached hers. “I just got caught in the crossfire,” she stated. A woman who called 911 told reporters she saw him pacing on other cameras and that Torres had marks on her neck.
Investigators are pursuing search warrants for his vehicle, his home and DNA evidence. Torres says she will add more cameras at the house to protect her household. She declined to share more details because the case remains open. Doorstep violence draws arrests elsewhere too, and a man shot an Amazon driver at a dark house in Texas.
Published: Oct 20, 2026 11:58 am