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Woman Recovering, But Deeply Scarred After Bed, Bath & Beyond Stabbing

KEANSBURG, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- The New Jersey mother who was stabbed inside a Bed, Bath and Beyond store earlier this month was at home recovering Monday night.

As CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported, the victim's husband said his wife was in so much pain, he could not touch or hug her. But it is the emotional scars he said that may never go away.

Kerri Dalton, 29, of Keansburg, N.J., was stabbed multiple times in the Bed, Bath and Beyond store in Middletown as she pushed her 5-month-old daughter in a stroller inside the store.

Eleven days later, she was still struggling mightily.

"She's healing physically," said her husband, Roger Dalton. "Emotionally, she's traumatized. She doesn't want to go out of the house."

Roger Dalton spoke out in detail Monday about the brutal attack.

"She didn't realize that she was being stabbed, because the first stab was in the neck," Roger Dalton said. "This animal actually took her and held her up and made -- she didn't fall down -- and stabbed her in her neck."

Kerri Dalton's alleged attacker, Tyrik Haynes, was a complete stranger. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder shortly after the attack, and was ordered held on $1 million bond.

Meanwhile, Kerri Dalton was back home Monday after being stabbed 13 times. Both of her lungs were punctured.

"She said to herself, 'This is it this is the way I am going to die,' and she kept fighting, and said, 'I am not dying like this,'" her husband said.

Roger Dalton said his wife had a cell phone in her hand, and took pictures of curtains when she was attacked on the ground and gasping her air. She first called 911.

"Her second call was to me, because she needed to tell me what happened,'" Roger Dalton said. "She said, 'I need you. I have been stabbed.'"

Roger Dalton, who raised his first child alone, said the store manager grabbed the phone and told him his baby was safe.

"When my wife was on the floor, she was thinking, 'I don't want him to raise another child alone,'" Roger Dalton said. "That is how much she loves me."

Dalton said he was the luckiest man alive, and that both he and his wife have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support – especially on his Web site.

Dalton said ever since his wife's friends set up the Web site, 300 people have reached out, including people they don't even know.

Tyrik Haynes Arraignment
Tyrik Haynes at his arraignment Jan, 18. 2013. (CBS 2)

The suspect, Haynes, made his first court appearance the day after he allegedly stabbed Kerri Dalton. He appeared dimly aware of his surroundings, and his movements were thick, his face heavy-lidded.

He lives in a townhome nearby with his mother and sister, and has a background of alleged violent acts.

Last month, the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Haynes was arrested for torching a cat in Middletown.

SPCA Chief Victor "Buddy'' Amato told the Asbury Park Press Haynes took one of two cats he bought online, brought it out to the woods in a cat carrier and used matches and aerosol to set the carrier on fire.

Middletown Burned Cat Carrier
(credit: Monmouth County SPCA)

Psychologists say cruelty to animals is often a prelude to violence against humans.

"This is not the result of a couple of bad days or a bad month. This is someone that's developed personality problems over time," clinical psychologist Dr. Bart Rossi told CBS 2's Lou Young.

Haynes was due in court in February on those charges.

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