'He picked the wrong house': Bodybuilder, 82, fights break-in suspect

Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) – An 82-year-old woman found herself in danger after she says a man broke into her home – until she turned the tables on the intruder.

Willie Murphy says she was getting ready for bed Thursday night, just after 11 p.m., when a man began pounding on her door.

“He was outside and saying, ‘Please call an ambulance,’ saying, ‘I’m sick, I’m sick,’” she said.

She called the police, but wouldn’t let him inside. That, she says, is when he became angry.

“I hear a loud noise,” she said. “I’m thinking, 'What the heck was that? The young man is in my home. He broke the door.”

What the suspect likely didn’t realize is Murphy is an award-winning bodybuilder who works out at the YMCA almost every day.

“He picked the wrong house to break into,” she said.

Murphy says it was dark, so she was able to hide as the suspect walked through her house. She acted quickly and grabbed the closest thing she could find.

“I picked up the table, and I went to work on him,” she said. ‘The table broke.”

“And when he’s down,” she continued, “I’m jumping on him.”

She says, once the suspect was injured, she ran and grabbed a bottle of shampoo – and started pouring it on him.

“I grabbed the shampoo,” she said. “Guess what? He’s still on the ground. In his face, all of it, the whole thing.”

“I got the broom,” she continued. “He’s pulling the broom. I’m hitting him with the broom.”

Finally, officers arrived. The man was sent to the hospital and Murphy was applauded by first responders.

“The officers that came wanted to go on my front porch and take selfies with me,” she said.

Friday, she returned to the YMCA and got a hero’s welcome.

For the record, Murphy says she can deadlift 225 pounds. She hopes this story inspires people of all ages.