Realtor killed in Arkansas concerns West TN realtors about safety
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JACKSON, Tenn. — Realtors working in West Tennessee have a renewed focus on their safety while on the job, after one of their peers was kidnapped and killed in Arkansas. The news of Beverly Carter’s kidnapping and death opened old wounds for one of Jackson’s real estate agents, who was attacked on the job three years ago. For Lana Petrinjak, the day she was attacked started out just like any other. She got a call from a potential home buyer that morning, and that afternoon as she was showing the house, her potential client changed her perspective on the safety of a real-estate career. “As he got close, I heard a jingle. And when I heard the jingle, I looked up and he slapped handcuffs on me,” Lana Petrinjak explained, a realtor, who remembers every detail of the day she was attacked by one of her clients while showing him a home in Jackson. She was handcuffed, choked with a dog collar, and dragged around the house. “I was laying there thinking, ‘What is it going to feel like to be killed? What is he going to do to me? What about my family, what will they do? What will my daughter do? It was just horrifying,” Petrinjak said. The realtor said after she broke free, still handcuffed, to run to a nearby neighbor she had met just minutes before. Three years later, Petrinjak still works as a realtor, but because of her terrifying experience, she takes extra steps for her safety. “Don’t go alone. When you’re meeting a cold call for the first time, always take somebody with you,” Petrinjak explained. The Central West TN Association of Realtors said the best tip is to be aware in any job you have, especially if you’re alone with clients. “One of the simplest ways is to be aware of your surroundings once you get into the property because most of the time, it’s somewhere you’ve never been before,” Brent Ward said. For Petrinjak, the details of that day will always have an impact on her. “This was a horrifying experience. i would not want anybody ever to go through this again,” said Petrinjak, “But I thought, ‘I’m not going to let somebody stop me from doing my job, because I love being a realtor,” Stephen Davis, the Jackson man convicted of attacking Petrinjak, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping, attempted rape, and robbery. Davis must register as a violent sex offender upon release, which means that he will be on the registry for life.
