For the home intruder, it might have seemed like a perfect scenario. It was 11 p.m. in Rochester, New York, and the only person home was a then-82-year-old grandmother who weighs all of 105 pounds (approx. 48 kg). But as the criminal was being carted off to the hospital after being arrested, he must have realized that something had gone terribly wrong.
It just so happened that the 28-year-old robber had broken into the house of female bodybuilder Willie Murphy, who can deadlift 225 pounds (approx. 102 kg), works out at the YMCA every day, and won first place in her division at World Natural Powerlifting Federation’s championships in 2014.
Thinking that he was telling the truth, Murphy ran inside to call 911. But as she was trying to help what she thought was a man in trouble, the intruder was breaking the chain on her front screen door.
“But guess what?” she said, showing her impressive biceps. “I’m tough.” Taking the closest thing at hand, a thick wooden TV tray table with metal legs, Murphy got to “wailing his behind,” as she described it to the Democrat & Chronicle.
At this point, the man was “dumbfounded” by the resistance of the elderly woman, as Murphy told Fox & Friends. After being beat with the table, the robber fell backward on top of the coffee table, which broke under his weight. Next, she jumped up and down on him with all her strength.
Continuing to use whatever came to mind to defend herself, Murphy chanced upon a large-size bottle of shampoo, which she had just bought. She proceeded to douse him in the eyes and mouth with it. “In his face, all of it, the whole thing,” she told WHAM.
After that, she found the broom she uses to clean the snow off her car. “I’m hitting him with the broom,” she continues. By this point, Murphy had held off the criminal long enough for the police to arrive. “He’s laying down already, because I had really [done] a number on that man.”
As it turned out, the young man got the ambulance he had originally begged for, only he was handcuffed and being taken for treatment because of the beating he had brought upon himself.
When the first police officer took her information, he had to see Murphy’s ID to believe that she was actually 82. He brought his fellow officer in, and they saw all the trophies that were evidence of Murphy’s years of success as a natural bodybuilder. The officers were stunned and brought their partners and Murphy onto the porch for selfies.
Murphy had the satisfaction of telling the story to her friends and fellow bodybuilders at the Maplewood YMCA, where she works out. They laughed, cheered, and clapped as she gave a colorful account of the intrusion, complete with miming and sound effects. Workout mate Rajun Sells told WHAM, “She is the wrong person to mess with.”
