Remembering attack, Anna Nateece says, ‘I didn’t know whether I was alive or dead’

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, March 31, 2011 | 2:13 p.m.

Anna Nateece, her voice quivering, recalls the moment: “It was like being attacked by a hurricane. You have no idea how terrifying and shocking it was.”

For decades the costume designer for her dear friend and confidante Liberace, Nateece is recovering from a horrific attack Sunday night at the CVS store at Charleston Boulevard and Durango Road. The renowned designer and longtime board member of the Liberace Foundation is recovering at her home after spending four days at Valley Hospital after being transferred from Summerlin Hospital, where she was first treated for cuts and bruises after an incident that unfolded about 9:40 p.m. Nateece arrived just as the store was about to close.

“I’m shaking just talking about it,” Nateece said today in a phone conversation. “This has been very difficult for me emotionally.”

Nateece said the store’s parking lot was nearly empty, a rarity for that time of night, when she pulled in to park in her 2004 Mercedes Benz C240. She noticed two men, one of whom she described as “kind of chubby,” looking over the tires of a black vehicle parked two spaces from Nateece’s car.

“They looked suspicious to me,” she said. “They did not want me to see their faces.”

She entered the store, as did the two men, who made a single purchase -- toilet paper -- before arguing with the cashier and leaving in haste. When Nateece walked out of the store, she was rushed by one man she could not identify and was pushed hard to the ground.

“He came from somewhere, I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t even say if it was from the front or from behind.”

“He was yelling, ‘Give me the purse! I am here for that!’ ” said Nateece, who was carrying a navy blue St. John purse stuffed with personal items. “I was yelling at him, ‘No, no! You can’t have it! Get away from me!’ ”

Nateece was struck in the head, across her right eye, and suffered a badly bruised right shoulder, bruises and cuts on both arms, a bruised neck and bruised hip.

“I blacked out for a second,” she said. “I reached up to my eye and felt blood. I didn’t know if it was blood or my brain at first. It was so horrible. I didn’t know if I was alive or dead.”

Nateece summoned a shopper leaving CVS to dial 911 and was taken by paramedics to Summerlin Hospital. No suspects have been identified.

“I have so many bumps and cuts,” she said. “My eye is black and purple. It was so terrible.”

CrimeStoppers is seeking any information about the incident; call 385-5555.

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