A New York City mother says a dream birthday hike in Arizona turned into a nightmare after a convicted felon allegedly slashed her throat, punched her repeatedly and tried to drag her away.
Alexis Rowan, 27, was nearing the end of a 10-mile hike through the Havasupai Reservation on Aug. 12 when she briefly became separated from a friend and stopped to ask a man for directions.
Rowan said she approached 29-year-old Taylor Nardo Paya near the village of Supai and asked where the gift shop was.
At first, she said, the interaction seemed normal.
“I didn’t think anything of it, it was the first person that I’ve seen in the village,” Rowan told ABC7 New York. “And I said, ‘Hey, excuse me, is that the gift shop?’”
But as she continued walking, Rowan said she began to feel uneasy.
Moments later, she claims Paya attacked her from behind with a pocketknife.
“I kept walking, I went to go in and that’s when he just came up from behind,” Rowan recalled.
“And as soon as I felt my neck, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die.’”
Rowan, a mother of two, said thoughts of her children immediately took over as she fought back.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, my neck. I can’t die like this, this is not the way,’” she said.
“And I was like, ‘I have my kids to go home to.’”
According to an FBI affidavit cited by local outlets, Paya allegedly cut Rowan across the neck and wrist with a pocketknife.
Rowan said the attack did not stop there.
She claims Paya punched her repeatedly, pulled her hair, threw her to the ground and tried to drag her away.
Ring-camera footage from near the gift shop reportedly captured parts of the struggle, including the moment Rowan was on the ground and the suspect allegedly tried to pull her away.
Her mother, Tricia Rowan, later described the attack as completely unprovoked.
“This was a vicious, violent UNPROVOKED attack that almost took my daughter’s life!” she wrote in a Havasupai Falls Facebook group.
“Taylor Paya slit her throat, punched her repeatedly, pulled her hair, threw her to the ground and tried dragging her to who knows where!”
Tricia said her daughter screamed for help and fought with everything she had.
“Thankfully my daughter is a warrior and FOUGHT for HER LIFE!” she wrote.
A woman who lived nearby reportedly heard Rowan screaming and opened her door.
That gave Rowan the chance to get away and take shelter inside the home.
The resident provided first aid until Rowan could receive medical treatment.
Rowan suffered a wound several centimeters long across her neck along with injuries to her left hand.
She needed 10 stitches in her neck and three stitches in her hand.
Her mother said she will never forget the woman who stepped in to help.
“I’m just so grateful for the woman that opened the door that heard her screams, it’s something you can never unhear,” Tricia told ABC7.
“She’s a fighter. She fought to make sure she’s coming home to her babies, and she’s my baby. So I’m so glad she made it.”
Although Rowan is recovering physically, her family says the emotional scars remain.
“All she kept saying is, ‘I feel like this isn’t even real life, like it’s a dream, it’s a nightmare I haven’t even woken up from,’” Tricia told FOX 10 Phoenix.
Rowan had traveled across the country and spent hundreds of dollars on permits for what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime visit to the remote Havasupai Reservation.
Instead, the trip ended with a federal criminal investigation.
During the struggle, Rowan’s cellphone reportedly fell out of her backpack and was allegedly taken by Paya.
Authorities later used the phone’s location to track Paya to a nearby home, according to the FBI affidavit.
The reservation’s only officer on duty went to the property, but Paya allegedly slammed the door when the officer arrived.
Investigators obtained a warrant and arrested him the following day.
He was then placed in federal custody.
Because the alleged attack happened on tribal land, Paya has been charged in federal court with assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian country.
His case is being handled in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Publicly available reports say he has not yet entered a plea in the current case.
The allegations are especially disturbing because Paya has a prior violent conviction involving another woman on the Havasupai Reservation.
Court records show he was convicted in connection with a December 2015 attack in which he confronted a woman outside a home, tore off several layers of her clothing, threw her to the ground and punched her in the face and side.
Paya pleaded guilty to robbery in September 2016.
He was sentenced that December to five years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
Court records also show he was ordered to undergo sex-offender treatment and counseling.
That earlier case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Rowan’s mother said she decided to speak publicly because she wants other visitors to understand the potential dangers and hopes the case leads to stronger safety measures in the area.
“He’s clearly a threat to society, and he’s proven it time and time again,” Tricia told FOX 10.
She also warned that anyone visiting the remote trails could be vulnerable.
“For the hundreds of thousands of people who hike those trails, you don’t have to be a woman,” she told ABC15. “Although he was a predator on women, it could be anyone.”
Despite the terrifying ordeal, Rowan’s family stressed that they also received kindness from members of the Havasupai community.
They were especially grateful to the woman who opened her door, helped Rowan escape and treated her injuries immediately after the attack.
Obviously the guy has a problem and should be executed by the tribe. He’ll only get out and do it again!