When a local hospital contacted Ann Smart-Pearce with a plea to help a recovering cancer patient, the 86-year-old grandmother couldn't say no.

A longtime property manager, Smart-Pearce thoroughly vets candidates who live in rental units she oversees in Salt Lake City's Brickyard area. But when an organization with ties to the hospital contacted Smart-Pearce about Arthel Martin several weeks ago, she believed health-care employees were sending her a quality tenant.

Now, as Smart-Pearce continues to recover from a brutal New Year's Day attack, allegedly at the hands of Martin, her family wishes for once their mother hadn't been so quick to extend her trademark kindness.

"She's such a sweet, kind-hearted lady. She always goes out of her way to assist everybody. She's a selfless person who is always giving back," said Amy Maddocks, Smart-Pearce's daughter-in-law.

"This perpetrator, she had been so good to him and given him so much."

Maddocks said her mother-in-law was contacted by people connected to a local hospital, which the family is not publicly naming.

Smart-Pearce had been told Martin received donations from people who had pooled their money to help him after he finished cancer treatment and left the hospital, Maddocks said. Those who helped Martin had noticed Smart-Pearce's advertisement about a room for rent, she said.

Smart-Pearce was in the hospital receiving physical therapy for a broken hip when she received the call about Martin.

"She thought, 'I'll rent to him, he sounds like a good guy,'" Maddocks said. Martin was living in Smart-Pearce's rental unit for about two weeks when she was released from the hospital, Maddocks said.

A week after her return home, the attack happened, Maddocks said.

Smart-Pearce was moved Saturday from the intensive care unit at Salt Lake County's St. Mark's Hospital, but remains in critical condition, Maddocks said. Smart-Pearce woke up briefly, but is not entirely coherent.

The family is anxious to learn the extent of her injuries, which doctors say won't be known for a few days, said Maddocks, who is serving as the family's spokesperson as Smart-Pearce recovers.

Deputies with the Unified Police Department meanwhile, are continuing to track leads on Martin's whereabouts, the only suspect named in the assault.

Two other tenants told police they saw Martin beating Smart-Pearce in her home on the 3000 South block of 1100 East about 6 a.m. Friday. The tenants tried to detain Martin after stopping the attack, but he escaped in a dark green Hyundai Sonata.

Detective Shane Manwaring said Saturday evening that investigators know Martin's general location and are optimistic they will make an arrest.

He said police are investigating whether Smart-Pearce was sexually assaulted during the attack. He said detectives haven't been able to interview her extensively because of her condition, but said a possible sexual assault is "under investigation."

Maddocks said Smart-Pearce's family is learning more about Martin, 45, whose criminal record includes four separate cases filed against him for co-habitant abuse in 3rd District Court. The cases stem from 2003 to 2008. Martin also filed a case against a woman for co-habitant abuse in 2008.

Court records show Martin pleaded guilty in Tooele Justice Court in 2003 for possession of marijuana, a class A misdemeanor and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty in September 2008 to disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor in West Valley City Justice Court.

Despite their horror over their mother's attack, Smart-Pearce's family is overwhelmed with gratitude toward the two renters who they believe saved her life, Maddocks said.

One of the tenants who saved Smart-Pearce has rented from her for 16 or 17 years, she said.

Her mother-in-law has always performed background checks on tenants, but took the hospital's word in Martin's case. She said family was slightly concerned about Martin, but didn't have any indication he would become violent.

"When we met him, he seemed a little off. But he was also very polite and cordial," Maddocks said. "No one could see it happen. She took it on faith (that nothing bad would happen)."

The Unified Police Department, formerly the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, is asking anyone with information about Martin to call 801-743-7000. Martin has Utah license plates with the number Z216MN.

mrogers@sltrib.com