Local family wakes up to home intruder
Disoriented young female wanders into house through unlocked door
Disoriented young female wanders into house through unlocked door–Paso Robles Police arrested a female juvenile for trespassing last week after receiving a call of a home intruder. The incident was reported Friday on NextDoor in the Union/Highway 46 neighborhood of town.
“Do to her being a juvenile no further details will be released regarding the suspect,” says Paso Robles Police Commander Caleb Davis. “The incident is an isolated incident and no other residences were entered.”
The surprised resident reported details of the incident on NextDoor:
“This morning just before 3 am, we heard our downstairs bathroom fan come on, then go off, then come back on. I thought it was our young son sleepwalking, so I jumped up and went downstairs to check. As I got halfway down the stairs, I heard the door from our house to the garage close. Still thinking it was our young son, and worried he would hurt himself in the dark garage, I burst into the garage, hit the light, and found a barefoot and apparently disoriented young (teenage-looking) girl with a boyish pixie cut standing there.
“In shock, I looked around to make sure she was alone, then said “Who are you? Why are you here? How did you get here?” All of which she answered in a very whiny voice “I don’t know.” I screamed for my husband. We got the girl to come into our house and sit down while we called the police. She maintained her “I don’t know” line for most of our questioning, except to tell my husband her name and age when he asked while on the phone with dispatch.
“When the police showed up, she maintained her “I don’t know” routine, crying and wringing her hands. She denied being on drugs, either illegal or prescription. She didn’t look high to me, but I’m not an expert. We determined that she entered our house through our unlocked (our bad, unusual for us) sliding back door, which she had left open, though the curtain was still closed. Our backyard butts up to the green belt slope on Union before Riverglen, which is where we assumed she came from.
“After the police took her away, we looked at our Ring video, which we hadn’t done before because we only have it on our front door. To our surprise, we found 2 videos of her approaching our house from the street side, ringing the doorbell multiple times, and trying to open the front door many times before walking around the side of our house. Our Ring doorbell is dysfunctional (works as a camera but not a doorbell; it’s new so we haven’t figured out how to fix it yet).
“We’re still trying to figure out how we missed/slept through the Ring notifications. In the meantime, it looks very much like this young person, wandering our neighborhood in the middle of the night, barefoot and underdressed (cropped hoodie with no shirt underneath and lightweight pants) in 40-degree weather, is in a very bad situation of some sort. We do NOT think she entered our house with malicious intent. She didn’t have time to try and take anything, no telling if she would have.
“The police mentioned that they had picked up at least one other young person tonight in a very bad mental/drugged state, and made the comment “looks like we might have some bad drugs on the street.” I am posting this as a PSA to lock your doors, and as a call to compassion for our young people. As this girl was crying on my couch, I really struggled between making her a cup of tea and hugging her and being outraged at her violation of our privacy, safety, and peace of mind.
“Thank GOD our child slept through all of this! After I had triple-checked every room and our backyard again, I checked on him again, thankful he is safe and praying he is never in a situation like this girl has found herself in. We probably won’t tell him about this right away. I won’t sleep easily for quite a while. Writing this is helping but the adrenaline is still running through my veins.
“I’m praying for this girl and our community. Hold your kids tight, make sure you keep communication lines open with them, let them know you love them, and also, lock your doors! I would also like to commend the PRPD for their quick and compassionate response to this situation. We have their initial questioning of her on Ring and they were gentle yet firm with her as they tried (to no avail, at least here) to get her story out of her. I am hopeful that she is where she needs to be and safer now than she was earlier. Thanks for listening, neighbors. May peace be with you.”
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