Woman's throat is slit during rabid attack by convicted felon after she asked him for directions to gift shop on her birthday hike

Published: 00:37, 23 August 2026 | Updated: 00:37, 23 August 2026 A New York City mother has revealed how she fought for her life after a convicted felon allegedly slashed her throat and tried to drag her away during a birthday hike in Arizona. Alexis Rowan, 27, was nearing the end of a 10-mile trek through the Havasupai Reservation on August 12 when she stopped to ask Taylor Nardo Paya, 29, for directions to a gift shop. Rowan had briefly become separated from a friend who was walking ahead of her when she encountered Paya, a member of the Havasupai Tribe, in the village of Supai. She said he initially appeared to help her before allegedly attacking her from behind with a pocketknife as she walked away. 'I didn't think anything of it, it was the first person that I've seen in the village,' Rowan told ABC7 New York. 'And I said, "Hey, excuse me, is that the gift shop?"' Rowan said she quickly became uneasy during the encounter but continued walking toward the store. 'I kept walking, I went to go in and that's when he just came up from behind,' she recalled. 'And as soon as I felt my neck, I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm going to die."' Alexis Rowan, 27, was allegedly slashed in the neck during a birthday hike on Arizona’s Havasupai Reservation Rowan was eight miles into a 10-mile hike when she asked Taylor Nardo Paya, 29, for directions to a gift shop The mother-of-two said thoughts of her children drove her to fight back as Paya allegedly punched her repeatedly and attempted to pull her away. 'I was like, "Oh my God, my neck. I can't die like this, this is not the way,"' she said. 'And I was like, "I have my kids to go home to."' Ring-camera footage from near the gift shop captured the violent struggle and appeared to show Paya trying to drag Rowan away after she fell to the ground. According to an FBI affidavit cited by ABC15, Paya allegedly cut Rowan across the neck and wrist with a pocketknife. Rowan suffered a wound several centimeters long across her neck and other injuries to her left hand. She required 10 stitches in her neck and three in her hand. Her mother, Tricia Rowan, said the attacker also pulled her daughter's hair, threw her down and repeatedly punched her during what she described as an entirely unprovoked assault. 'This was a vicious, violent UNPROVOKED attack that almost took my daughter's life!' Tricia wrote in a Havasupai Falls Facebook group on August 15. Ring-camera footage captured Paya allegedly attacking Rowan from behind and attempting to drag her away Rowan required 10 stitches in her neck and three in her left hand following the alleged pocketknife attack 'Taylor Paya slit her throat, punched her repeatedly, pulled her hair, threw her to the ground and tried dragging her to who knows where! 'Thankfully my daughter is a warrior and FOUGHT for HER LIFE! Screaming for help and begging for her life!' A woman nearby heard Rowan screaming and opened her door, allowing the wounded hiker to escape and take shelter inside. The resident provided initial first aid before Rowan could receive medical treatment. 'I'm just so grateful for the woman that opened the door that heard her screams, it's something you can never unhear,' Tricia told ABC7. 'And she's a fighter. She fought to make sure she's coming home to her babies, and she's my baby. So I'm so glad she made it.' Tricia told FOX 10 Phoenix that her daughter remains traumatized by the attack despite recovering from her physical injuries. 'All she kept saying is, "I feel like this isn't even real life, like it's a dream, it's a nightmare I haven't even woken up from,"' she said. Rowan had traveled across the country and spent hundreds of dollars on permits for what was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime visit to the remote reservation, according to ABC15. The mother-of-two said she fought for her life while thinking: ‘I have my kids to go home to’ During the struggle, her cellphone reportedly fell from her backpack and was allegedly taken by Paya. Reservation police used the device's location to trace Paya to a nearby home, according to the FBI affidavit. ABC15 reported that the reservation's only officer on duty went to the property, but Paya allegedly slammed the door when the officer arrived. Authorities obtained a warrant and arrested him the following day. He was subsequently placed in federal custody. Because the alleged attack occurred on tribal land, Paya has been charged federally with assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian country. His case is being handled in the US District Court for the District of Arizona. A federal court calendar listed a detention and status hearing concerning a preliminary hearing in the case. A published outcome was not immediately available. Paya has not yet entered a plea to the current charge, according to publicly available reports. The suspect was previously convicted of robbing and assaulting another woman on the Havasupai Reservation in December 2015. Authorities arrested Taylor Nardo Paya the day after the attack after tracing Rowan’s stolen cellphone to a nearby home Paya, 29, was taken into federal custody and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian country Court records reviewed by FOX 10 state that Paya confronted the woman outside the home where she was staying, tore off several layers of her clothing, threw her to the ground and punched her in the face and side. He pleaded guilty to robbery in September 2016. The US Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said Paya was sentenced that December to five years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to undergo sex-offender treatment and counseling as part of his sentence, according to court records obtained by FOX 10. The earlier case was investigated by the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs. 'He's clearly a threat to society, and he's proven it time and time again,' Tricia told FOX 10. She said she decided to publicize her daughter's ordeal to warn other visitors and press for improved safety measures on the reservation. 'For the hundreds of thousands of people who hike those trails, you don't have to be a woman,' she told ABC15. 'Although he was a predator on women, it could be anyone.' Despite her criticism of the alleged attacker and the response resources available, Tricia stressed that her family had also received considerable kindness from other members of the Havasupai Tribe. She particularly thanked the woman who opened her home to Rowan and treated her injuries immediately after the attack. The Daily Mail has contacted the US Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, the FBI, the Havasupai Tribe and Paya's attorney for comment.