Updated: Sep 3, 2012 - 4:26 PM

Twtter

SANFORD, Fla. - Sanford police are hoping a 70-year-old man found bruised and unconscious will soon be able to tell authorities what happened to him.

Edward Lay was found last week lying in the parking lot of a pet rescue shelter along Iroquois Avenue.

Authorities said Lay often left his nearby business and walked up to a fence that separated it from the shelter. Shelter workers said they never saw him on their side of the fence until he was found unconscious near an SUV.

"I was so devastated when the police called me and told me who it was," said shelter owner Judy Sarullo. "I was screaming. I just don't understand."

Lay seemed to have been brutally beaten, unable to speak to Sanford police detectives and tell them what happened.

Friends said Lay often works late at his shop, and the only thing that makes sense to them is that he saw something happening on the other side of the fence and decided to be a good neighbor and check it out.

"This gentleman would never come over here. Even during the daytime when he was here, he would never come over to the center. We would talk next door and ask how the animals are, so it doesn't make any sense that he would come over here at 11 p.m.," said Sarullo.

The shelter's had a series of car break-ins over the last few months, and Sarullo said a knife and a tube were found behind a transport vehicle. She believes someone might have been preparing to steal gas when Lay spotted them and got involved.

"My prayers are that he's OK," she said.

Sanford police said Lay is now able to speak and will talk to investigators this week.

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