Ark. anchor dies after beating

LITTLE ROCK An Arkansas television anchorwoman found beaten at her home died Saturday from her injuries, hospital officials said.

Anne Pressly, 26, died at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Margaret Preston said. Preston said family members declined to release any other details about Pressly's death.

In a statement released by the hospital, Pressly's parents Guy and Patti Cannady asked for privacy as they grieved their daughter's death.

"It was our hope, as was yours, that Anne would overcome the injuries inflicted upon her in the brutal attack at her home," the statement read. "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."

Pressly was beaten around the head, face and neck during the attack. She had been unable to communicate with her family or police, while being kept sedated in the intensive care unit.

Pressly was discovered Monday morning a half-hour before she was to appear on ABC affiliate KATV's "Daybreak" program. Her mother went to the woman's home after she didn't answer her regular wake-up call.

Little Rock police have yet to identify a suspect in the attack.

Pressly was a native of Greenville, S.C., and moved with her family to Little Rock while she was in high school. She is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.

Pressly had a small role in the new Oliver Stone movie "W," which was filmed in Shreveport, La. She appears briefly as a conservative commentator who speaks favorably of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" event on an aircraft carrier shortly after the start of the Iraq war.