Remember the guy who changed clothes on my front porch and sat down and ate crackers or cookies or something in the wee hours of July 10? He visited us again today!
There’s a little cake/cupcake shop in town. Several actually and I know where all of them are located and which ones have the best cupcakes! My favorite is closing the end of August and I’m so sad about that but, I told Addie we’d get cupcakes and macarons for her birthday. They don’t open til 10 and I figured after the announcement that they were closing soon, everyone would be going there to tell them bye and to get the cook baked goods. I told Addie we needed to be there just a few minutes after 10 to get what we wanted. We usually eat breakfast around 10 but I told Vince we’d put breakfast off til 11. Addie wanted ebelskivers and I had promised her I’d make them.
So . .we went and got cupcakes, got home and before I started fixing breakfast, Vince said his friend was spinning honey and Vince was going to go over and watch so Vince left. He said he’d be back about noon and we could have ebelskivers then so, at 11:56 a.m., I was in the kitchen frying bacon and making ebelskivers and Addie said “Granny! Someone’s knocking on the door.” Sometimes UPS or Fed Ex will drop a package at the door and tap on the door but everyone else rings the doorbell.
I went to the door and luckily, pulled the curtain back from the sidelight and heaven help me . . it was the naked guy but he had clothes on. He was looking around and thankfully not looking at the door so he didn’t see me but I’m sure he heard Addie yell to tell me there was someone at the door. It looks like he noticed the doorbell camera as he was walking up. My guess is that he thought if he didn’t ring the doorbell, it wouldn’t photograph him . . but it does. He knocked, then backed up . . all the way down four steps to get out of view of the camera.
He had some kind of tool in his hand. Vince enlarged the pictures and said it’s a glass breaking tool. He must have planned on breaking one of those sidelights if no one came to the door and hopefully being able to unlock the door with his hand but all of our doors require keys.
He was on a bicycle and rode his bicycle right up to my porch! We knew he hadn’t come down the driveway because that camera didn’t pick him up and we can see where he came across the yard on his bicycle.
He left when I didn’t open the door. Lucky for us, he did go down the driveway, Vince was coming home and as Vince turned onto our street, he saw the guy leaving our driveway on his bicycle so Vince stopped him:
Vince: Can I help you?
Guy: Can I have a bottle of water?
Vince: I don’t have a bottle of water.
Guy: You don’t have a bottle of water??
Vince: We drink tap water!
And, with that, he was gone. Before you ask . . we did call the sheriff’s department at probaby 12:15 or 12:30. We looked at all the videos because Vince wanted to see what he had in his hand. They still have not responded and it’s now after 4:00. Vince did tell them he was gone but he wanted them to come see the videos. Vince has the email of one of the deputies who responded to the first call so Vince sent him the videos.
Of course, we don’t expect anything to happen with the police. They have way too much going on these days and I’m not knocking them . . just glad we understand the situation and know we need to be able to do what we have to do if we ever find ourselves in a really bad situation.
I asked Vince if he thinks the guy will come back and he said “I never thought he’d come back after the first time and since he was here at noon . . in the middle of the day . . I’m not even going to guess what he might do.”
I may get lots of cross stitching done tonight because I bet there will be very little sleep for me. These kinds of things are hard for me to deal with for a few days.
Carolyn says
Wow
Liz says
Maybe Vince can create a “big dog” barking audio set up so you can use that in the background as you answer the ring bell. ( I am assuming that you can use your phone to query the visitor. )
I have a walking stick by the front door so it is easy to grab, either to walk down the slope if it is slippery or as a defense stick.
Judy Laquidara says
I mentioned the barking dog sound. I can talk to them but I wouldn’t talk to that guy. Vince can if he’s here but I’m hoping he never comes back.
Tricia says
I’m so sorry that you are having to deal with this unsettling situation! Of course you are going to be worried–that’s a completely normal reaction to a strange man potentially trying to break into your house! I’m normally pro-police, but I would definitely be mad and frustrated if they only helped out once a crime had been fully committed instead of taking a proactive stance. I would put up a sign on your house saying you have pictures of him and that the police also have pictures of him now. It might make him think twice if he comes back. Also, if he rode a bike to your house, he probably can’t live that far away. You might put up signs in the neighborhood asking for information on him…Anyway, I’m thinking of you and sending you good thoughts!
Judy Laquidara says
I’m pro-police too but that’s exactly why I didn’t call them last time he was here and felt a little chastised for not doing so. They have so much really bad stuff going on, they’re spread thin and they just don’t have time for what they probably consider petty minor nuisance activity. I know . . it isn’t minor when it’s happening to you but that’s how they seem to look at it. At least we called and even though they never came out, there’s hopefully a record that we called.
Martha says
Have you thought about using the Next Door app. Our area is always posting odd behavior from their cameras. He may not see it but your neighbors might and be on the lookout.
Judy Laquidara says
We do use the Next Door app but we don’t get a whole lot of reports of weird behavior. I think mainly because there’s just not a lot of it out here. We seem to be the lucky one to get it all.
Rebecca says
I was wondering if you had spoken to any of your neighbors about this guy, since you seem to be friends with people around you! I don’t know if it would do any good to have multiple reports of suspicious activities, though. Anyway, it might alert them to potential “mischief” to say the least.
Judy Laquidara says
I’ve spoken to all of them and they all have copies of the video. I did the same thing with the July incident.
Linda B says
Have you looked into an alarm system? We have had one for 33 years and feel much safer with it. Just the sign for the alarm company can be a good deterrent too.
Judy Laquidara says
We have one but the problem is that if someone does come in, there’s no one to come if we need help. I don’t know that the sign is much of a deterrent because most every one I know who has a sign doesn’t even have an alarm and most burglars seem to know that. Ours isn’t monitored but it will wake us up and there’s a loud external speaker and that’s about all we need.
Dottie Newkirk says
So sorry about the strange guy…..is he just going to your house or has he been to other houses in the neighborhood??? Hopefully the police will be able to follow up.
Judy Laquidara says
I’ve talked to my four closest neighbors and they haven’t seen him but none of them have cameras and he could easily be showing up without knocking on the door and they would never know.
Sherry Bobak says
Have you checked with Jeremy to see if that had any issues like this? Would he maybe know the guy if he saw pictures of him? With him being on a bicycle, it seems he might be fairly local. Maybe some of the neighbors would recognize his picture.
Judy Laquidara says
None of the neighbors recognize him. Jeremy has seen the videos from July 10 and today and he doesn’t know him. Jeremy never had issues but honestly, if peole don’t have cameras, work all day and aren’t home, they wouldn’t even know this kind of stuff was going on.
Marsha B says
Sometimes when someone is looking for a place to break in they will ring the doorbell to see if anyone answers. If not they may go ahead with the break in thinking no one is home. You should always acknowledge them and let them know the house is occupied. I wouldn’t open the door but shout through the closed door or from a window he can’t reach easily. Most of the time if they know someone is home, they will try elsewhere. My hubby, a retired police officer, taught me that. You are right, most police forces are so short handed they only have time for the emergencies and wait to handle these types of issues if no one was injured or the guy didn’t get in. The political climate most departments have to work under right now is creating a huge problem for everyone. Hope the guy never comes back and you and your neighbors stay safe!
Judy Laquidara says
Addie was in the living room. I was in the kitchen and she had already yelled for me that someone was knocking on the door so he knew we were inside. I can speak to them through the doorbell so I wouldn’t have to shout. By the time I got to the door, he was already down the steps, on the bike and leaving.
Yes, I’m not blaming the police. This wasn’t a real emergency. Vince sent the deputy he knows all the videos from today. It’s ridiculous the conditions the police departments, even in our conservative little town, are having to work under.
Sandi B says
Unsettling, to say the least. I hate that for you.
Karen says
We have an alarm system – once it’s armed if a door is opened or a window broken it triggers a call to the response center who notify the police & call us. In addition there’s an alarm in the attic window that starts blaring loud enough to wake the dead and alert our neighbors. I really like having it when I’m here by myself.
Judy Laquidara says
We’ve had those before but the system we have now isn’t monitored. Too many areas, including here, they can call the police all day and there’s no one to answer the call for hours so we didn’t bother with having this system monitored. Ours will wake everyone around too and if someone is in the house, I think/hope they’ll be leaving very quickly. Another problem is that we aren’t dealing with the type of burglaries we had 20 years ago. So many of these are happy to get $20 and go buy their next fix. It’s truly a crazy world.
Teri says
On no. Thankfully Addie didn’t open the door.
Judy Laquidara says
Chad and Nicole have taught her to NEVER open the door, even if it’s someone she knows. Their Husky is an escape artist and you have to hold him before opening the door so it’s best that Addie just not open doors. I think what happened today really reinforced that for her.
Debra McIntosh says
Funny that you have only seen him when Addie is there – bit strange. Also I’d put up signs stating that the area is covered by cameras
Judy Laquidara says
During the summer, she’s here more than she’s not here but it is weird.
Nelle Coursey says
That is really scary!! I think I would be calling the officers back and telling them just how frightening this is! What are you supposed to do? Wait until someone gets hurt before they will do anything. Sure they are busy but that is their job, to protect the citizens who pay their salaries! This could be a potential life or death situation! What if you had been there alone or Addie had answered the door? I know she has probably been told not to do that but still it could happen!
Christi says
We live in the country and have dogs. People always ask me do the dogs bite. My answer is , “Yes.” Probably they won’t but no one knows that but us. Wonder if this guy has mental health issues and bothers other people, too. Maybe play some dog sounds in the house. People are scared of dogs.
Sheryl says
Wow! Most burglaries occur during daylight hours according to what I’ve read. We used to have little alarms that hung over the door knob. All it took for those things to emit hair raising alarms was for someone to touch the door knob on the other side of the door. I hope this doesn’t happen again. It’s frightening for sure.
Judy Laquidara says
I used to have those too and they were miserably loud.