For the first time, Marcella Miller, 92, got to tell her version of what happened during a home invasion robbery.
Miller says she was awakened by her daughter screaming before she came face to face with a teenager who shot her at point blank range last Thanksgiving.
The 17-year-old suspect, Oscar Soto, showed little emotion as the 92-year-old victim told the court what happened last Thanksgiving. We are showing you his face, since he is being tried as an adult. The judge did not allow Marcella Miller to be photographed in court.
She told the court she met the teenager face to face in the hallway when he told her: "He says, lady, back up or I'll kill you."
Seconds later, she recalled him firing and falling to the floor before hollering to her daughter: "I said Marilyn, call the ambulance I'm bleeding to death."
Miller's 63-year-old daughter was desperate for help when she called 9-1-1. "Please, somebody come. Somebody broke into the house and shot my mother in the neck. Oh please sir, please hurry up."
After the shooting, Marilyn says she asked the suspect: "Why are you doing this. He said, where's the gold."
Fresno County Sheriff's Detective Brandon Pursell told the court Soto confessed to the crime during an interview at sheriff's headquarters. He was even specific about how he got into the house. "Oscar told me he was standing on the back patio, when he shot the gun through the window and then reloaded the firearm."
Investigators say Oscar Soto lived several blocks away from the victim, but targeted that house for a reason. "Why he specifically chose that house? He thought it was a nice house and they would have nice things inside."
Soto's mother, Eugenia Valdez is also facing serious charges since detectives learned she helped cover up her son's crime.
Investigators say Valdez not only told them Oscar was with her that night, they say she hid the sawed off 22 used in the crime, before ordering her sister to get rid of it. Detectives said family members told them the gun was eventually tossed in to a canal.
Late Thursday afternoon a judge ruled Soto and his mother will be held over for trial.
As for Marcella Miller, although she has recovered, part of her body is paralyzed.
