Left: Bill Curl and Lucy Pat Curl (First Baptist Orlando). Right: Ronald Davis (Orange County Jail).
The wife of a Florida pastor who was viciously beaten during a burglary at her home has died.
Lucy Pat Curl, 85, was taken off life support and died Wednesday. Her husband Bill Curl was a longtime pastor at First Baptist Orlando.
The events that ended Lucy Curl’s life unfolded on Saturday morning, when she answered a knock on the door of her Orlando home. The suspect, 55-year-old Ronald Dwayne Davis, was posing as a community service officer — and then attacked the woman. Her husband found her a couple of hours after the attack.
A letter to fellow church members from family announced the death.
“The circumstances of her passing are shocking and abrupt, and not what we would have expected or chosen. But as our Lord has forgiven us, we are asked to forgive each other,” the letter obtained by Spectrum News 13 said.
With that in mind, Bill Curl took a photo of his wife after she died.
“When asked what he would do with a picture like that, his response was, ‘I’m going to show it to the man who did this to her. Then I’m going to forgive him. I refuse to let his actions dictate who I am,”” family wrote.
Lucy Curl’s funeral is set for Feb. 16.
Davis was arrested on charges of home invasion robbery with a weapon, aggravated battery on person 65 or older with great bodily harm and aggravated battery with a weapon. As of Wednesday afternoon, charges had not yet been upgraded to reflect the victim’s death.
