Second victim attacked by the same suspect survived

• Sarah Alden was brutally attacked and taken off life support after two months
• Alden, 53, had just moved to Venice Beach, California, fulfilling a lifelong dream
• She and another woman, Mary Klein, were attacked on April 6, while the suspect, Anthony Francisco Jones, was arrested on April 11.

A woman who had just moved to Los Angeles to start a new life but was brutally raped while walking along the canals in Venice Beach has died after nearly two months in a coma.

Sarah Alden, 53, was declared brain dead earlier this week after she was attacked on April 6 while walking along the banks of Southern California’s famous canals.

Alden, a mother of two sons, was the victim of a horrific attack: just hours after moving into her apartment to start a new life, she was brutally raped and attacked.

She wasn’t the only woman attacked that night – Mary Klein, 54, was the attacker’s second victim.

She was also sexually abused and suffered severe injuries to her body and face because she believed she was about to be killed.

The suspect, believed to be homeless, Anthony Francisco Jones, 29, was arrested by police on April 11 for the attacks. Police confirmed that both attacks had a “sexual component.”

“The level of brutality was very reprehensible,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

Surveillance video showed Jones walking near the canals with a bottle of alcohol.

It is believed that the bottle he was carrying was also used in the attack, which occurred when Alden had just moved from Massachusetts to California to start a new life.

The day before the attack, she had signed a rental contract for an apartment in Venice and planned to surprise her friends at a brunch the next day. But the brutal attack put an end to those plans and ultimately ended her life.

After the attack, she was left for dead and remained in a coma for the rest of her life after suffering numerous brain injuries.

She was surrounded by friends and family in the hospital when doctors finally took her off life support. Her organs will be donated to save the lives of others.

“She loved the sunrises on the East Coast and the sunsets on the West Coast. Sarah loved her two sons and her animals and was blessed with a keen eye for vintage jewelry,” reads a tribute to Alden.

Jones is charged with rape, torture, attempted murder, assault, sexual penetration by force and sodomy by force.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to the victim’s family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time,” the prosecutor said. “Our office is evaluating how we will proceed to ensure that the defendant is held fully accountable for his conduct.”

“It’s very sudden and shocking,” Cynthia King, Alden’s girlfriend, told KTLA. “She was extremely intelligent, educated and witty. She was stolen from us. I feel like I’m in another reality. This isn’t even real.”

A GoFundMe campaign to help Alden’s family with medical and funeral expenses has so far raised $24,000.

Klein, 54, the second woman attacked, says she has little memory of the brutal attack that left her with a broken jaw, missing teeth and numerous bruises on her face and chest.

“It was like I was hit by a truck,” she told KTLA. “My teeth were knocked out. My jaw is wired shut. He smashed my face in… I think he was trying to kill me.”

Klein, a single mother, said she was hit out of the blue on her way home around 10:30 p.m.

“Suddenly I just lost consciousness,” she said from her hospital bed.

She said she believed her attacker was trying to kill her when he was brutally beaten on the head and upper body.

Her injuries include a broken jaw, broken teeth, numerous bruises and a large cut on the back of her head.

Klein is a professional nurse who provides home care to an elderly woman with ALS and soon-to-be grandmother who faces a long road to recovery that will require numerous surgeries.

A GoFundMe page set up after the attack, which has so far raised $100,000, also notes that Klein’s health insurance canceled her on March 31, just a week before the attack, and that she was in the process of purchasing health insurance for California when the attack occurred.

Klein’s son Robert added that while he was happy about the arrest, he wondered why such a “predator” was allowed to roam freely on the streets.

“I want sex offenders and violent attackers to be held accountable, receive longer prison sentences and not end up on the streets with our family members.”

Klein expressed hope that her attacker will be sentenced to life in prison and that local authorities will make combating homelessness and substance abuse in Southern California a top priority.

The GoFundMe campaign to help Klein with her medical expenses states that the fundraising goal has been increased to cover “additional facial reconstruction” and a home security system.

“It is questionable whether she will be able to return to work in the next six to eight weeks, and she is very afraid of losing her small rental apartment in Venice where she has lived with her cat for years,” the fundraiser says.

“Many people may know her for the wonderful sand art she creates for all the events in Venice.”