Suspect expected to stand trial 7 years after ‘brutal’ attack on elderly Lexington woman

A man charged with murdering an 82-year-old woman in a 2016 stabbing is expected to face trial next week after his alleged victim died years after the attack.

David Joel Williams, 42, of Lexington, was indicted for a murder charge in August 2018 after Hilda Mae Pike died in July. Williams was also indicted on a charge of first-degree burglary. The attack occurred in 2016.

In August 2016, Williams broke into Pike’s Dogwood Drive home, awakened her and demanded money, police said. She told Williams that she didn’t have any money, and he allegedly stabbed her more than a dozen times. He took a small amount of cash and ran off, police said.

Pike survived, but family members told Herald-Leader reporting partner WKYT she was “never the same” after the attack, and was hospitalized 18 times in two years. She had trouble breathing and walking long after the stabbing.

Prosecutors’ evidence suggests Pike’s death was a result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in addition to the injuries sustained by the alleged assault, according to court documents.

A year after the attack, Williams was arrested and charged with assault and burglary when DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the attack on Pike. The investigation revealed Williams had targeted Pike after she bought a vehicle from his family, police said.

Williams has been imprisoned since August 2017. He has had trials scheduled at least four times from 2020 to 2022.

Pike’s granddaughter, Cara Blue, wrote a letter to a Fayette County judge in which she called Williams a “sad excuse for a man” when he broke into her grandmother’s home and “brutally attacked her.”

“...The effects of his cruel choices have left lifelong scars on all of us who loved her,” Blue wrote in a letter to the judge. “She eventually succumbed to her injuries from this monster, and him seeing any sort of time outside of the punitive system would be both an incredible injustice, and more pain for our family who has already been through so much.

“This attack was unprovoked, violent and heartless.”

Throughout the court proceedings, Williams has had several different private and appointed attorneys, according to court documents.

Health care professionals, police and evidence laboratory experts are expected to testify at Williams’ trial.