Man arrested for attacking, attempting to smother woman he met online

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – An Orlando man was arrested for trying to sexually assault a woman he met on a dating site.

"I was in complete shock and scared. I thought it was going to be my last moments," said the woman.

The 21-year-old Tampa woman agreed to speak with News 6 as along as we didn't reveal her identity.

"I invited him over to smoke or whatever and I thought he was going to be cool," she said.

The woman said after talking to 21-year-old Trae O'Harrow online and by phone, she invited him over to the Best Western hotel on Thursday.

"He walked into the bathroom and then came out with a knife, held it to my neck and told me to perform sexual acts on him," she said.

When the woman declined and grabbed her phone to call her boyfriend, she said O'Harrow knocked it out of her hand and fought with her on the bed.

"He was smothering my face with his hands and the pillow and I almost lost consciousness," she said.

The woman said she somehow escaped the room, with O'Harrow trying to pull her back inside.  Witnesses heard the woman scream and yelled for O'Harrow to stop.

"He was grabbing me, and wouldn't let me go," she said. The woman showed News 6 bruises on her arms and legs. "I was scared."

Police said O'Harrow took off and later returned to the hotel with a woman, to look for his phone. Police arrested him a short time later. O'Harrow appeared before a judge Friday afternoon, facing several charges including sexual battery. He's being held without bond for violating his probation after he was arrested  in Orange County for dealing in stolen property.

"I just want to say thank you to them," said the woman. "I'm very grateful that the hotel guests were around because God knows what could have happened."