Betty Trawick has never been more grateful to be broke than when a man with a knife barged through her back door Tuesday morning in east Bibb County.

The petite 73-year-old heard a knock shortly before 8 a.m. and repeatedly asked, “Who is it?”

When she didn’t get an answer, she opened the door just enough for a hooded man with a 10-inch knife to force his way into the brick home in the 2600 block of Recreation Road.

“Give me the money,” he kept shouting as he pushed her through the house while apparently looking for valuables, Trawick recalled.

“Let me see your pocketbook,” he demanded.

Her purse was empty.

“He saw there was nothing in there but air,” Trawick said.

Monday, she spent her last $1.60 on a box of grits and cat food for strays. “So that means I wasn’t telling a fib when I told him I didn’t have anything,” Trawick said. “If I had anything, he probably would have taken every last penny.”

Trawick could feel the intruder’s hand on her back as he took her through the house with her small dog barking behind him all the way.

“He was a nice looking man. Seems he could do more than rob people,” she said. “God was with me and he didn’t hurt me or put the knife to my head.”

The black man, who stood just over 6 feet tall and was dressed in black jeans, a striped shirt and a hood, left as quickly as he came in, she said.

He was clean-shaven, but his hairstyle was hidden under the hood, she said.

Next door, Trawick’s daughter was finishing up her Bible devotion and daily prayers for her family’s safety when her mother called to report the home invasion.

The family will be upgrading the security systems, the daughter said.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 746-9441 or Macon Regional CrimeStoppers at (877) 68CRIME.

To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303.