01x02 - Secret Surgeon and Puppysitter

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- The cabinets are banging
and the music's blaring.

I want to believe
that it's in my head.

- "dad, somebody's
in the house."

♪ ♪

- It wasn't a lie.
This was my life.

This is what happened to me.

- I'm naked and someone
is in my house.

- "man found hiding
between a family's' walls."

- "intruder secretly living
inside her attic."

- "man slithers out
from under home."

- Make sure your crawl spaces
are locked.

- I hear footsteps.

I'm vulnerable, naked,
and someone is in my house.

- There was somebody
violating my home.

- I want to believe
it's in my head.

- This giant man's handprint.

- You came into my home.
You invaded my privacy.

- [scream echoes]

- We had a phrogger
in our house.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- In 1986, I am 14 years old

And I live in pepperell,
massachusetts.

- The town I lived in
was small, quiet, peaceful.

We rode our bikes up
and down the street.

There was no traffic.

- The town's so small that
there's not much to do.

I live on a gravel road
in a split-level ranch.

You have the kitchen,
the living room,

Three bedrooms.

Downstairs, the bedroom,
a family room.

We call it the red room.

And a laundry/cellar area.

♪ ♪

I live with my dad,
my little sister karen.

She's eight.

And my friend kathy. She's 15.

My mother passed away
a year earlier.

When I lost my mom,
it was devastating.

I missed her so much.

Mom was my everything.
She was my rock.

And now I had to be there
for my sister.

I had to feed her.
I had to clothe her.

I had to do the laundry.
I had to get her to school.

Her and myself.

I have a lot of responsibility

Dealing with the loss of my mom.

It's difficult.

The solution my dad has
is to allow kathy,

My best friend, to move in.

Her parents moved to tennessee,

But she wanted to stay
for high school.

My dad offered to be guardian,

So she stayed
and moved in with us.

We are so excited to be sisters.

We were partners in crime.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

My dad, he tries hard.

He works far from the home
as a hotel restaurant manager.

And he has trouble
with three girls.

He doesn't know what to do.

But being home alone
has its benefits.

I'm able to stay up late.

Talk on the phone all night.
Have ice cream for dinner.

Torment my little sister
any time.

- My sister fed me.
She washed me.

She beat me up.
She made fun of me.

We were sisters.

I loved hanging out
with my big sister.

[faint pop music]

- Our laundry broke

And we had to go
to the laundromat.

And dad drops us off.

So we put in the clothes,

And there was a huge picture
window with a little shelf.

And it's a small town,
and we're bored.

So we got into the window
and we performed the dance.

Lo and behold, some boys walk in

And they want
to exchange numbers.

As a boy-crazy 14-year-old,

A little bit of
an attention hound, I think,

"yay! This is great."

[birds chirping]

But I miss mom.

When mom died,
a part of me died.

I'm sad.
I need answers.

I do something
incredibly stupid.

[eerie music]

Kathy and I decide
we're gonna hold a séance.

♪ ♪

And in the séance we're asking,

"mom, are you there?"

The cover
to the electrical panel

Flew off onto the ground

And scared the crap out of us.

"oh, my god." we were done.

♪ ♪

After the séance,

Crazy, weird things
start to take place.

One morning I wake up

And all the stuff from
the shed in the backyard...

The rakes, the shovels,
the lawn chairs,

Is all tossed
all over the backyard.

I look at kathy.
She looks at me.

We know it's not karen.

And we're a little baffled.

How? Who? What?

We tell dad, and he blames it
on the neighbor kids.

He says, "your friends
are pulling jokes on you.

It'll be okay.
Just go clean it up."

This is just the beginning.

- I did not grasp
what was happening.

I had no idea what was to come.

[doorbell ringing]

- One day, the doorbell rings.

Broad daylight.

Answer the door. Nobody.

♪ ♪

Is somebody messing with me
and I'm just not catching them?

Do I have a ghost?

[thunder cracks]

Three days later, there was
a thunder and lightning storm

And lightning lit up
the front bay windows.

And I hear karen and kathy

Screaming at the top
of their lungs

And telling me my mother
is in the dining room

Because they saw a human shadow
when the lightning struck.

At this point,
I don't know what to think.

[ominous music]

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

And then one evening,

We are talking
to boys on the phone,

And a huge knock comes
at the window of our bedroom

As if a pretty decent-sized
rock was thrown into it.

[loud bang]

My heart is in my throat.

Because we're together,
we know I didn't do it,

She didn't do it.
We're all together.

Karen didn't do it. She's here.

They were so scared.

My dad's at work.
He's not home.

When it's 2:00 in the morning

And you have banging
coming on your windows

From outside your bedroom,
what do you do?

You call the police.

The police came out
to investigate.

They didn't find
anybody or anything.

♪ ♪

The police asked,
"where's your parents?"

Dad says, "you're not supposed
to be home by yourself

"at 2:00 in the morning.

There's nobody here.
Stop bothering the police."

I thought, "we have ghosts."

This is the only
logical explanation

For the madness.

People thought I was
acting out in grief

And that I needed
grief counseling and help

Because I lost my mother.

No one believes us.

[ominous music]

It wasn't long
before kathy and I

Moved through
this house as a team.

If we were going upstairs,
kathy would have the front,

Karen would be in the middle,

And I would walk up
the stairs backwards

So we could see if anything
was gonna come at us.

- Everyone was scared.

- At night,
I barricade my bedroom door.

I sleep with a knife
under my pillow.

But at a certain point,
the fear turns to anger.

So the next night,

I'm on the phone in my bedroom.

I hear banging on the wall.

And kathy picks up a plastic bat

And we kick the door in
to the laundry room

Which leads to the cellar.

We yell,
"whoever or whatever you are,

"come out, show yourself.

We're over this."

I see nothing.

Nothing.

♪ ♪

For six months,
incidents happened on and off.

A couple of days in a row.

A week with nothing.

Two weeks, every day, incidents.

A week, nothing.

And then one evening,
I'm in the bathroom.

I'm doing my hair.
I'm doing my makeup,

'cause it's Friday night
and we're going roller skating.

I go roller skating
to meet boys.

Kathy is babysitting.

The plan is dad's
going to pick up kathy

And drop us all off
at the skating rink.

As I'm getting ready,

A rock comes
at the bathroom window.

The rock hit so hard,

It cracked the pane
in the window.

And dad's home.

He's in his room watching tv.
I run to him.

"dad! Check it out."

Dad got a little nervous.

Dad says,
"I'm going to check out."

In the meantime,
I decide to call kathy.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

My phone line is dead.

I go upstairs to the kitchen,

And that line is dead.

Dad comes inside with a bag
of individually-wrapped candy

And a bb g*n.

We don't know what's going on,

But the phone lines
had been cut and burnt.

I'm panicked.

♪ ♪

"see? See, dad? See?"

This is the first incident
that happens

Dad sees firsthand.

Dad says, "oh, we'll get
to the bottom of this."

But dad's scratching his head.

He reports the cutting and
the burning of the phone lines.

Phone lines get repaired,

And all the activities
die off altogether,

And things are quiet.

[tense music]

Karen is sick.

Somebody has to stay home
to take care of karen.

- Tina was the lucky winner
that day.

- Karen and I are laying
on my dad's bed

In his room watching television,

And she's sleeping.

It's about lunchtime,

And I hear the radio
go on in the kitchen.

My heart is in my throat.

I don't have kathy.
Now I'm alone.

I have to protect karen.

The cabinets in the kitchen
are banging.

Something is opening
and closing the cabinets

At a really rapid pace.

And the music's blaring,
and I panic.

Whatever it is, it's back.

And I think,
"what? What do I do?"

Karen's still sleeping.

So I go to the phone
and I call dad.

Remember, dad's
a hotel restaurant manager,

And it's lunchtime.

Bad time to call dad.

[hushed]
"dad, somebody's in the house."

"tina, hush. Nobody is there.

We're gonna talk
when I get home."

My dad doesn't believe me.

While I'm on the phone,
karen wakes up.

- I was hungry.
I went to the kitchen.

I wanted a snack.

- And she starts crying.

I thought, "oh, no!"

- I yell to tina,

"where are the cupcakes
and orange juice?"

We had just went
grocery shopping.

They should have been there.

[tense music]

- Where did they go?

So I tell karen, "kathy took
'em to school for lunch.

Let's have something else."

- Tina, later on, said,
"let's go get ready.

I have to go to work."

- I have a job mucking stalls
at the local thoroughbred farm.

And we had daycare set up
for karen by the neighbor.

So I'm getting changed,

And I hear karen singing.

♪ I found 'em, I found 'em ♪

"kathy didn't take this
to school.

They're right here."

And I ran into the red room

And there was the box
of cupcakes

With a few empty wrappers
hanging out.

I grab her by the hand
and we get out of that house.

♪ ♪

We arrive home.

We pulled into the driveway,
and all the lights are on.

I say, "dad, when I left today,
it was daylight.

I didn't have the lights on."

We walked through
the front door.

All the tvs are on.

All the radios, they were all
on the same stations

And they were up as loud
as they possibly could be.

This is twice dad sees, like,
something is wrong here.

I'm not lying.

So my dad starts
with the basement.

And he's turning off
the televisions and radios

As he hits room to room.

Karen's following
along behind him.

- So we searched the downstairs.

Everything seems fine.

We go upstairs.

We open up
the bedroom closet door.

He says, "excuse me.
I'll just let you be,"

And shuts the door.

- "dad, that's not funny."

And now it's quiet.

We hear,

"girls, get your asses
over here now."

And I look.

I see my dad

Standing face to face
with this thing.

Hair spiked with hairspray.

Makeup on the face
like w*r paint.

A fur coat.

And I see a hatchet to the side.

I hear dad, "it's okay.

"this is just a homeless person
looking for food.

"it's okay. We're all going
into the last room on the left.

It's okay."

And he has his hands up
as he backs down the hall.

Dad gets in
and he closes the door.

And he's trying to keep
three young girls calm.

- I am crying.

I don't know what is happening.

- Dad says,
"tina, go to the phone."

So I went to the physical
phone that was into the wall

And it had been removed.

The lamp had been removed.

- And she starts freaking out.

"no light. No phone.
No light. No phone."

She's pacing back and forth
in the bedroom.

- "dad, no light, no phone.
Dad, no light, no phone."

The walls were coming in on me.
I couldn't breathe.

And just like the movies,
I saw that window.

- Dad, I'm going for help.

- The next thing I know,

She jumps out the window
and she's gone.

- Kathy sticks her head
out the window

And screams at the top
of her lungs,

"run, tina, run!"

And I ran like
I've never run before.

I knew at any moment
this thing is gonna get me.

I ran through the woods.

The trees scratched my face
and I didn't care.

I ran up the neighbor's
back door

Two and three steps at a time.

And I'm banging.
Bang, bang, bang.

Neighbor opens up the door
and I just ran her over.

"there's a guy in the house
with an axe

And he's got the whole family!"

She says, "what?"

I couldn't get it out
fast enough.

The neighbor called the police

And all we can do is wait.

I don't know
if they're alive or dead.

- One state trooper
pulls into the driveway.

I see police hiding
in the woods around the house.

- There was a very tall
police officer

That came up to the window
and said,

"come on, honey, let's go."

And I was crying and screaming.

And my father picked me up
and threw me out to him.

[somber music]

- Within 30 minutes,

My sister, my friend, and my dad

Made it to the neighbor's.

And I was thankful.

Dad got on his knees

And gave me a huge apology.

[tense music]

- We searched the entire home.

Under beds. In closets.

In cubby holes. Repeatedly.

We searched the wooded area
surrounding that home.

And of course, we had cruisers
searching the roads.

And nothing turned up.

Didn't know what happened
to the intruder,

But I found the hatchet

Just outside the rear door
on the ground.

My initial impression
was maybe he has left here.

- He got away

And we were advised
to not spend the night.

The next night,
dad calls the local police.

He says, "meet me at the house.

I don't want to enter
the home alone."

- I was asked to come into
the station by the chief,

And he's advised me
that the bowen family

Wanted to go home,
retrieve some items,

And they wanted a police escort.

- We arrive at the house,

And someone is waving at us

From the second floor
bedroom window.

- As I approached the home,
I saw no footprints,

No sign of a break.

So I unlocked the door.

[ominous music]

And I went upstairs
a little bit.

I looked to the right,
and I could see a picture

With a knife through it
still stuck in the wall.

And written on it, it said,

"I'm still here.
Come find me."

I went upstairs
a little further,

And I saw another picture
with a knife through it.

And it said,
"I'm going to k*ll you all."

Those pictures
were not on the wall

When they locked the house.

So I'm thinking,
"he's got to still be here."

We searched.
And I mean we searched.

Closets, under the bed,
any place that we felt

That the average guy
could fit into.

We didn't find anything.

And they said,
"well, he's not here."

And I said, "no, he is here."

I was adamant. "he's here."

So they agreed
to search the house again.

We looked in places
that we didn't look before.

And we wound up downstairs.

We're in a small laundry room,

And I'm looking across the room
and my eyes are wandering.

And all of a sudden,
just like that,

I see part of the wall is not
a wall separating rooms.

I looked at it and said,

"that wall was designed
to hide pipes."

So when he built this wall
to hide the pipes,

He never brought it
all the way over

To meet the other wall.

There was a 7 to 8,
maybe 9-inch space.

I looked at the base of it,

And I said,
"someone could fit in there."

So I asked the sergeant
for his flashlight.

♪ ♪

And I saw what appeared
to be a 3 1/2 to 4 foot-high

Pile of dirty clothes.

I said, "I got the sob
right here. That's him."

I drew my p*stol.

I put it right up
by the side of his head.

I said,
"I want to see your hands,

And I want to see 'em
real slow."

♪ ♪

- The police had brought up
a person,

And I recognized those eyes.

And now I know
I know this person.

And I can't think...

How do... where do... who...

♪ ♪

I think I do.
I don't know the name.

And it came.

That's danny laplante.

I spoke with him for months
on the telephone.

Danny got my number

Through the boys
we met in townsend

Dancing in the window
at the laundromat.

I'm boy-crazy.

I didn't think
it was weird at all

That an unidentified boy
called me on my phone.

Danny introduced himself to me

At an eighth grade school event.

I'm 14.

I'm shallow,

And I'm not attracted
to danny in person

Like I was the danny
on the telephone.

'cause he was
just flat-out ugly,

And I had forgot all about him.

But this thing
at the front door,

This is danny laplante.

This is all my fault.

Six months or longer,

Danny was moving in and out
of the house,

Eating our food,

Turning our radios
and televisions on and off,

Knocking on the walls
inside and out.

There were electrical outlets
in my bedroom

That had been cut out
and balanced in the wall

So he could remove them
and peek.

- Daniel was charged
when he was arrested

From the bowen home

For breaking and entering,
kidnapping,

And threatening bodily harm.

Following his arrest,

He was actually held
for roughly 9 1/2 months.

Daniel's mother was able to
come up with the $10,000 bail

That allowed daniel
to be released

In mid-October of 1987.

[tense music]

On December 1st,

The gustafson home
in the town of townsend

Was broken into.

Unfortunately, priscilla
gustafson returns to her home

With her young son

Only to find an intruder there.

And the intruder
ties her to the bed,

r*pes and murders
a pregnant mother,

Drowns the five-year-old son
in the bathtub,

And upon the daughter
abigail's return

From school to the home,

Drowns her
in a separate bathtub.

Three murders in one home.

I had no facts
on the case whatsoever.

I just knew townsend,
triple m*rder, and I said,

"I wonder what daniel laplante
is doing today."

I did become involved
in the manhunt.

I told them that, "this young
man can hide anywhere.

Don't leave anything unturned."

♪ ♪

Eventually, I did find him.

He was in a dumpster,
and they arrested him.

In October of 1988,

Daniel laplante was tried
and convicted

Of three counts of m*rder

And sentenced to
three consecutive life terms

With no chance of parole.

Judge robert barton said,

"if massachusetts had
the death penalty,

I would personally
pull the switch."

♪ ♪

- When I found out
danny was arrested

For the m*rder
of two innocent babies...

For a pregnant mom,

It was sickening.

It was horrible.

[somber music]

I realize
he could have k*lled us.

He had unlimited opportunity

To do physical harm to us

Over that six months of hell.

- I didn't know
who this man was.

I didn't know why he was
doing this to our family.

I just was scared.

This man ruined my life.

Ruined my childhood.

Ruined everything.

- I realize the hand of god
was with us

The night dad came home

And found danny in the closet.

We had a phrogger in our house,

And I believe that
this incident tormented him

Until he died.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- I moved to this new town.

I didn't know anyone in town.

I had no friends and was single.

The only people I knew
in enumclaw

Was my brother eric
and his family.

- Enumclaw is an idyllic
little mountain town

On the way out to the ski
resorts and the mountain pass.

It's green. It's beautiful.

Sits right underneath
mount rainier.

Amber wants a little less
hustle and bustle in her life,

And I think that
the draw of enumclaw

Made enumclaw
really attractive to her.

♪ ♪

- When I moved to enumclaw,

I was working and going
to school at the time.

So I was very focused on just
getting through my education.

♪ ♪

I was working for
an insurance salesman

Doing just data
processing for him.

I was waiting tables.

And I was also
working for a drugstore

Just as a cashier.

And then in between that,
I was taking two classes.

♪ ♪

When you entered the apartment,

You entered it into a hallway.

If you went to the left,

You came across the bathroom
and the bedroom.

To the right, the kitchen,
the living room,

And the dining room.

It was a nice, sunny apartment.

I could see mount rainier
from my bedroom window.

It's majestic. It was calming.

I loved it.

[tense music]

It's always exciting
to move into a new space.

I had been unpacking all day,
but wasn't finished.

There were still things in boxes

And the apartment was kind of
in disarray still.

I had finished for the evening

And turned off the music
and was lying in bed

Listening to the sounds
of that space.

♪ ♪

The sounds of the traffic.

♪ ♪

The sounds of the neighbors.

The sounds of the refrigerator

And the air conditioning
coming on.

[air conditioning hissing]

♪ ♪

[creaking]

I hear footsteps above me,

Walking across the ceiling.

I look up and notice
that there's a crawlspace door

That pushes up into
the ceiling in my bedroom.

I am on the top floor.

There's nothing above me
but an attic.

♪ ♪

Could it have been an animal?
Could it have been the wind?

Could it have been
something next door?

♪ ♪

I eventually drift off
and I fell asleep.

So I woke up the next morning
remembering what I had heard.

So I approached
one of the employees

Of the apartment complex
with my concern.

They were very dismissive
and told me

That it was probably
a squirrel or raccoon.

That no one could be up there.

And I accepted that answer,

Probably because I wanted to.

I did go on with my life.

I had three jobs.
I had no choice.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

So one day,
I leave the apartment

To go to the grocery store,

And I noticed that there's a man

Sitting behind
the grocery store.

Now, this is
a quiet mountain town.

I have never seen
a homeless person in this town.

But this gentleman
was just sitting there,

And he looks at me.

♪ ♪

He looks at me longer
than is socially acceptable.

♪ ♪

And I just kept walking
and moved on with my errand,

And I came back and he was gone.

♪ ♪

I have the two cats,

And I have to buy
cat food for them.

So one day,
when I'm at the pet store,

I noticed this little black
and white and tan puppy,

And she looks up at me,

And there's just
a connection there.

She's so sweet and quiet,

And she just looks into my eyes,

And I know that
I have to have her.

I buy her.

I bring her home,
and I name her after athena.

I call her thea for short.

She is about eight weeks old.

- When she got thea,
she's just so happy.

She got to have her little
two kitties and her dog,

And she had her little family
and her apartment.

And she's working really hard
and getting stuff done.

Just, you know,
taking care of life.

- Should I have gotten a puppy
with three jobs

Going to school? No.

But the heart wants
what the heart wants,

And I wanted thea in my life.

And so I brought her home
and she was my dog.

So thea is a small puppy,

And she needs to be
potty trained.

So I kennel her in the bathroom.

I lay down plastic and newspaper

So that if she has an accident

While I'm at work,
it's easy to clean up.

So she is kept in the bathroom
with food and water and toys.

[ominous music]

I'm at work one night,
and I get a call from someone

At the apartment complex
letting me know that water

Is raining down
on my downstairs neighbor

And that there is a leak
coming from my bathroom.

But they need me to come home
because

When they tried to go into
the bathroom, there's a dog.

And they need me to come home
to get the dog

So they can fix the problem.

So I get home
and find two employees

Of the apartment complex
in the apartment,

And they're waiting
to get into the bathroom.

I open the door,

And thea is in
the bathroom sink.

How did she get in the sink?

I asked one of
the apartment employees

If they had put her in the sink,

And they said no.

They were waiting for me
to come to get the dog

So that they could
fix the problem.

She's a small puppy.

She's about eight,
nine weeks old at this point,

And the toilet is a good
2 1/2 feet away from the sink.

And the sink is standard, what?
3 1/2 feet high.

How did she get up there?

- There's water everywhere.
Your dog's in the sink.

None of that made sense.

This is really scary for her.

And it's scary for me.

I'm really worried about her.

♪ ♪

- One day I come home,

And I noticed that the window
that I leave open

So the cats can access
their litter box is closed.

And I know that
I didn't close it,

Because I specifically
left it open

So that they could get
to their litter box.

♪ ♪

My bedroom door is open,

And I know that I
closed it before I left.

♪ ♪

So I go to the kitchen,
I open the refrigerator,

And I see that there
are four cans of soda

When I had left five
in the fridge.

♪ ♪

I go to make dinner
and I open up the cupboard,

And the can of soup that I was
planning on making for dinner

Is not in my cupboard.

When the food starts missing,

That's when I go
to my brother eric and am done.

"stop coming into my apartment,
stop eating my food.

Give me my key back."

And he accuses me
of being crazy.

"I'm not coming
into your apartment.

I don't need your food."

He denies it
but I still think it's him.

I am fully in denial
at this point.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

So the issue is persisting.

The food is still missing
from the house.

The doors are still different
than how I left them.

So I start really
paying attention.

And I start marking the level
of the milk on the container.

I'm keeping track how many
cans of soup

I have in the cupboard,

How many cans of soda
I have in the fridge.

I'm really paying attention now.

♪ ♪

And these things
are still happening.

[door slams]

[birds chirping]

[tense music]

One day, I call in sick for work

And I spend the day
on the couch.

And I'm quiet all day long,
just watching shows.

♪ ♪

I hear a loud thump
coming from the bedroom.

♪ ♪

But I have animals and so
I assume it's the two cats

And the dog who are playing.

So I go on with my evening.

Then around 11:00 at night,
I turn off the television,

I turn off the lights,

And I lit a candle.

♪ ♪

I drew a bath
and I got into the tub.

♪ ♪

It's dark.

I look up, and the
crawlspace door is open.

[chilling music]

♪ ♪

Just a black hole
in the white ceiling.

I am terrified.

♪ ♪

And everything slows down.

♪ ♪

All the pieces fall into place,

And I know that
I'm not imagining this.

Somebody is in my house.

♪ ♪

That thump that I heard,
that was him.

♪ ♪

The footsteps,

The food,

The doors,

Thea in the sink,

That man behind
the grocery store.

All of these puzzle pieces
come together

To create a picture
that I can no longer deny.

For the first time,

All my suspicions are confirmed.

And this is the first time
that I feel real fear.

He's had access to me
for six months.

If he wanted to hurt me,
I would be hurt.

That's not what he wants.

♪ ♪

But if I scare him,

If I let him know
that I know he's here,

He might hurt me
so that I don't call the cops.

♪ ♪

So I need to be very chill.

[drain gurgling]

♪ ♪

I get out of the tub.

I'm vulnerable. I'm naked.

And someone is in my house.

♪ ♪

I have to go into
my bedroom for the robe,

And that is the most
frightening part

Because there's only one place
he could be hiding

And that's in the closet.

And it's a mirror door closet.

So I see myself in the dark,

Naked and alone,
reaching for my robe,

Knowing that he's on
the other side of that door.

♪ ♪

- I put on my robe very calmly.

I walk by the closet

Knowing that he's on
the other side of that door.

There's a junk drawer
right below the phone.

And in that junk drawer,
there's a hammer.

And so I take the hammer
out of the drawer

And hold it in my hand,
claw side out,

As I make that phone call.

And as I'm on the phone,

I'm looking down that hallway

To where he would be coming,
and I am ready.

[tense music]

Anybody comes at me
in this moment

Is going to get a face
full of a claw hammer.

And I call my brother.

My sister-in-law
answers the phone,

And I just say, "theresa,

I think there's someone
in my house."

And she tells me, "get out
of the house. I'm on my way."

So I pick up my puppy,

And I walk out the door
in my bathrobe

With a claw hammer in one hand
and a puppy in the other.

- She wanted that dog so badly
that she wasn't letting anybody

Take that away from her
or mess with it.

Not at all. And that's amber.

- And I'm waiting at
the bottom of the stairs

For theresa to come.

I'm terrified
and I just keep thinking

That if he comes out
of that apartment door,

I am no longer going to be
able to contain myself.

♪ ♪

But she gets there in minutes,

And she's got both
her german shepherds

In the backseat of that car.

[tense music]

So I get to my brother's house,

And theresa gets me
some clothes.

We call the police,

And I tell the police
what had occurred.

That I had heard a sound,

That the crawlspace door
was open,

And that I had suspected
someone living in my apartment

For the past six months.

And I kind of explained to them
about the missing food

And the footsteps.

But even as I'm telling
the police, it sounds crazy.

♪ ♪

The police go
and they check it out.

And they find
the crawlspace door open.

They go up there,
and there's nobody there.

But they find
some stuff up there.

There's a sleeping bag.

There's some food and a book.

And the police never found him.

He was gone before they came.

I never found out who he was.

♪ ♪

There's no crime.

Nothing has been stolen.

There was no as*ault.

There's really no signs
of a break in.

So the police can't really
do much of anything.

The next day,
I go back to the apartment,

And I pack up all my stuff.

And the whole time
I'm there packing,

I'm wondering,
"is he up there?"

But I was moved out
before the sun set that day.

- Six months of someone just
living their life above you.

So I couldn't believe she even
went back to get her things.

I would've ran and never
looked back at that place.

- I left enumclaw.
I never went back.

To have this unresolved,

It's just something
that I've lived with,

Because I don't think
I'll ever know who he was.

♪ ♪

- Amber and I,
for the next few years,

Lived together off and on
and we're very, very close.

And even though amber
is so strong and tough,

Her sense of safety
was really, really changed.

I remember one night
she called my work,

And I had to leave work
and come home

Because she had watched a movie

And she had a chair propped up
against the door,

Like, to defend off invaders.

Amber had a really hard time
feeling safe after this.

I think forever.

- I know that there was
no malice with him.

And I think maybe
that's why I've been able

To live with this story.

I think he was just alone
and desperate.

And that doesn't necessarily
make him a bad person.

But I would love to meet him.

I would love to talk to him.

I shared
this experience with him

Without us ever meeting,

And that would close the book
on this encounter.

♪ ♪

- There were two
perfect footprints

Of a shoe on the wall.

- Every single cabinet is open.

Every single door that someone
had access to is open.

The fridge, the washing machine,

The oven,
the dishwasher, everything.

- Is there somebody
still in the house?

- When he pushed up
his access panel to the attic,

It resisted
and someone pushed down.

I was scared.