Crime & Safety

Woman's Tense Encounter with Stranger Likely Presaged Burglary

Resident found man in her yard, and evidence indicates he was probably casing the home for a break-in.

A woman living on Tosa's north side was approached at her home by a stranger she had just seen wandering on her property, and not long after, the same man very likely broke into her home – possibly through the unlockable door that had stood between them.

At 1:30 p.m. March 2, the woman, who lives in the 4300 block of North 94th Street, reported to police that she had come home to find a strange man walking through her back yard.

She said that he then entered her patio and knocked at her breezeway door. She did go to the door, and he asked if he could shovel snow for her. She pointed out that her husband had already shoveled the driveway.

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He then asked her to take his number and call if she wanted snow shoveled later, and not wanting to upset him, she grabbed a notepad and scribbled the name "Johnny" and a phone number.

She saw him leave and approach some nearby apartment buildings.

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When police investigated, they found his footprints leading to two back windows of the woman’s home.

She described him as possibly being of mixed race, in his 20s, 5-feet 10-inches tall, wearing a yellow sweatshirt at the time and missing some front teeth.

Two days later, the woman’s husband called police again to say that at some point since that incident, their house had been burglarized, and they had every reason to suspect the strange visitor.

The breezeway door, he said, had just been installed and did not at that time have a functioning lock. They were missing jewelry, cameras, laptop computers, video games and other property.

The phone number the suspect left was non-functioning.


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