Mom, 27, is left with brain injury after horrific shoelace attack in iconic Vegas hotel

A California mom was nearly strangled to death with a shoelace in a horror attack outside her hotel room in Las Vegas .

Kailee Woods, 27, had traveled to the Nevada city to see an Eagles gig on September 22 and was staying by herself at the Plaza Hotel on Main Street.

The single mother told police she had been approached by a young man while outside the hotel casino who had asked to borrow her cellphone. She said he later followed her to her room and brutally assaulted her in the corridor.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, her sister Kristal Miller, 29, said Woods suffered a serious brain injury from a lack of oxygen and was only alive because two men ran out to help her after hearing the commotion. She also shared horrific photos of Woods' injuries and the crime scene in the hotel.

The suspect was later identified as Antonio Cortez Hernandez, 21. He appeared in court on Wednesday after being charged with attempted murder, battery by strangulation and battery with a deadly weapon.

His charges were referred to District Court for an in-custody evaluation, a District Court law clerk told DailyMail.com. He is scheduled back in court on November 15 where he will be evaluated by a physician to see if his mentally fit to stand trial.

He is currently being held in the Clark County Detention Center on $500,000 bond.

Woods told police she was standing outside the hotel and smoking with another man she had met that night when her attacker first approached her.

She said he claimed he had been separated from his friends and that his cell phone had died so needed to borrow a phone to ask a family member to pick him up.

Miller told DailyMail.com that her sister said he reminded her of their younger brother, was dressed nicely and very polite so she wanted to help.

Woods then asked for her phone back and told the man she was going to her room.

But after riding the lift up to the eleventh floor she said the man appeared out of nowhere in the empty hallway near her room.

Eager to go to sleep since it was around 3.30am and startled that he had found her, she became irritated when he asked to use her phone again.

Her sister told DailyMail.com she said to him that 'you can't follow people up to their rooms' - and told him to go to the lobby for help.

'My sister never gave her floor number out and she didn't know his name,' Miller said.

He reportedly claimed he needed the numbers he had dialed from her phone so she told him to step back from the door and went to find him some paper and a pen.

Unable to find these, she tore a page from a book she was reading and grabbed an eyeliner from her make-up bag.

She told police that it was at this moment she noticed he was carrying a black shoelace in his hands that had not been there before.

Miller recalled her sister describing having a 'strange feeling' and that she knew then that something was wrong.

She said he then asked her to help him write the numbers down for him which she started to do in the hope he would leave.

She claimed he then became upset and tried to grab her, so she threw the paper to the ground and ran down the hallway while yelling 'get the f*** away from me.'

Her sister told DailyMail.com that a struggle ensued and he put the shoelace around her neck, squeezing it tightly until she fell to the floor unconscious.

Miller said her sister was not sure how long she was out but when she awoke she began screaming and kicking a nearby door as he continued to strangle her.

Eventually two men in the room closest to the attack opened their door and saw the victim unconscious on the ground.

The attacker fled and the men were unable to catch him. But a black shoelace and mystery orange band were found discarded in hallway.

The men called the police and an ambulance transported Woods to University Medical Center where she was placed into ICU.

Miller said her sister suffered a brain injury and was told by doctors that if the attack had lasted just another few seconds she would likely have died.

Hernandez was arrested two weeks later on October 5, according to the police report.

He was charged with battery by strangulation, attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon and is being held on $500,000 bond at the Clark County Jail.

Miller said her sister was initially subpoenaed to be present at Wednesday's hearing but the District Attorney's office told her it had been postponed.

Detective Dorethea Brewer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told DailyMail.com she was unable to provide further details about the case because it is an active investigation.

Megan McCarthy with the public records unit at the LVMPD said that under a new Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that went into effect last month mugshots for open cases cannot be released.

Hernandez was also charged with larceny for an unrelated incident. On Monday, he appeared in court for that preliminary hearing.

Miller claimed that hotel security initially misreported the attack as a possible one-night stand gone wrong.

'The head of security said that is was domestic violence after she got into a tiff with a romantic partner but that is not what happened,' she continued.

'They have video footage and everything corroborates that this was a random stranger. He was never in her room and they didn't take the same elevator or go up together. It made us very upset. They weren't taking it seriously.'

Miller added: 'The attack was so brazen. He did it out in the open. We don't understand how he got on the elevator without a room key.' The family said they are planning to file a lawsuit against the hotel.

DailyMail.com has contacted the hotel for comment.

Miller explained that her sister was originally supposed to travel to Vegas with a friend who was unable to make the trip at the last minute.

She added that she did not go herself because she has just had a baby but described her sister as very 'independent'.

The concert was on September 20, with the attack occurring two days later.

Miller said Woods, who is a single mom to a seven-year-old son, is traumatized and has been struggling with anxiety and PTSD since the assault.

She added that Woods was working as a home health care aide but is now terrified to be alone in a stranger's home.

Miller said the ordeal has made her 'sick to her stomach.'

'We believe what he did showed premeditation and that he left his house that night with the intent and plan to hurt a stranger. We hope he has a long jail sentence'.

She added: 'I am hoping her story will help other women be careful and not make the same mistakes my sister did that allowed her to be an easy target.'

The Plaza Hotel is one of the largest downtown properties located on the strip in Las Vegas. It has been featured in a number of motion picture, television productions and music videos since it was built in 1971.

The hotel is 22 stories high with 504 guest rooms and a 66,000 sq. ft. casino, according to the company's media kit.