Anchorwoman Anne Pressly Dies From Injuries After Attack

An Arkansas television news anchor found severely beaten at her home Monday moing has died.

Anne Pressly, 26, anchored KATV-TV's moing news.

Pressly was injured around the head, face and neck during the attack early Monday moing. She succumbed to her injuries on Saturday, WYFF-TV reported.

Little Rock police said Pressly was attacked on Monday by an intruder in her home. Police said that Pressly was non-responsive when she was found by her mother at about 4:30 a.m.

Police said the attack may have come during a robbery, because Pressly's purse was missing. There are no suspects. KHBS-TV in Arkansas reported that a reward leading to the arrest and conviction Pressly's attacker has grown to $29,000.

Friends and former teachers at Greenville (S.C.) High School remembered Pressly as a good student with a winning personality and a kind manner.

"She had this personality that was just unbelievable," Greenville High School Principal J.F. Lucas told WYFF on Tuesday. "She's one of those students that you just enjoy having in class because she works so hard and causes you as a teacher to think."

Family Releases Statement

Guy and Patti Cannady, Pressly's parents, released the following statement to KATV:

"We are profoundly saddened to tell you that our dear Anne has lost her struggle for life. It was our hope, as was yours, that Anne would overcome the injuries inflicted upon her in the brutal attack at her home. We were with her in her last moments, and although our hearts are broken, we are at the same time comforted by our faith knowing that Anne is now with our Heavenly Father.

"The outpouring of compassion we have received is truly a testament to the way in which Anne has touched so many people in a positive way. Thank you for your prayers and your many acts of kindness. We are grateful for the wonderful care Anne received from her doctors, nurses and others at St. Vincent.

"Our lives will not be the same without her. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we struggle to move forward without our dear sweet daughter. We also ask that you give us the privacy we need at this very difficult time."

Pressly had a bit part in the movie "W," playing a conservative commentator who speaks favorably of President George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" event on an aircraft carrier shortly after the start of the Iraq war.