Deputies Search for Two Armed Robbery Suspects

Deputies are searching for two women who used a ride to church to rob an elderly woman at knifepoint, taking her money and her jewelry.

The two women, who were about 45- and 25-years old, approached Magdalena Valus, 72, at the WalMart on Cortez Road at around 3:30 p.m. Monday and told her they were looking to join a local church. The women told Valus that they wanted to make a large donation to the church.

Valus told them about about church and offered to take to two women there. She first drove to her home to drop off the groceries she had just purchased. She then proceeded to take the two women to her church. On the way there, one of the women told Valus she was feeling ill and needed her to pull the car off the road.

Valus pulled in front of Whitfield Plaza where she parked the car. The older woman who was sitting in the front seat of the car pointed what Valus thought was a knife at the 72-year-old. She pressed the weapon against Valus's ribs and demanded her money and jewelry.

The suspect took all of Valus’s money and jewelry and ran south from the Plaza.

The suspects are described as:
A 45-year old woman with short black hair and a tattoo on her right calf and a
25-year old woman with shoulder length dirty blond hair and blue eyes. The younger woman may be named “Lorena Ramo.”