01x07 - Forever Fling and Footprint Phrogger

[bunniefuu]

- One day, I go into
the second floor bathroom,

And the toilet seat is left up.

- I hear a bloodcurdling scream.

- I immediately take
a step back,

And I see bloodstains.

- There's someone
in our laundry room,

Up in the attic.

- Someone jumps out
from behind my door

And grabs me by the mouth.

- 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 wanna believe it's
in my head.

- It's a giant man's handprint.

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

- We had a phrogger
in our house.

- In 2019,
I was living in my home

In pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

With my two daughters
and two cats.

- I live next door to kate flory

With my fiancée, madison,

In brighton heights
outside of pittsburgh.

- It's one of the quieter
neighborhoods in pittsburgh.

It feels almost like a suburb.

- There is a lot of people
who own their homes

And have been there
quite a long time.

- Quiet streets, walkable parks,

Trees, kids running around.

- Just really nice community,
friendly people.

- Just an old-school
neighborhood.

When I originally bought
my home in brighton heights,

I was still married
to my husband,

And we had our two young
children, ages six and eight.

In addition to my two daughters,

I have two cats,
lucky and layla.

They're really important to us.

When my husband and I divorced,

My girls and I decided to get
the cats as the new additions

To our family, and they've
been with us ever since.

I work
as a full-time bookkeeper,

And as a single mom,
moving into this home

Was a dream of mine that I'd had

Since before I even imagined

My children existing
on the planet.

The month that I closed
on the house was October,

And, to my delight,

Exactly what I wanted to happen
happened on Halloween.

Kids everywhere,
trick-or-treating, having fun,

Neighbors all
out on their porches,

Watching the kids run by.

It's so much fun... people
decorate, and they go all out.

That's exactly
what I had imagined

When I bought the house,
and that's what happened.

It's everything I really wanted
and pictured for my kids.

- Kate was living there

When my fiancée
and I moved in next door,

And she was constantly outside,

Playing with her daughters.

They would be doing
chalk art on the sidewalk

Or dressing them up
as princesses

And going on adventures,

And, you know, getting them
little push scooters

And going up
and down the street.

It was
a very loving relationship

That she has with her daughters.

Kate, as a neighbor,
is generally

Very calm and collected.

She'd sit out
on her porch in the evenings,

Talk to the neighbors,
play with the kids,

And then go inside,
and I would never hear a peep

Until the lights
went off at night.

We got to know each other
by talking from porch to porch

Because we were very close,
proximity-wise.

- My home is a three-story home.

We have a large living room,
big kitchen,

Three bedrooms on the
second floor, full bathroom,

With a finished attic and
a basement with stone walls

And two little rooms
off the side

That tend to get a lot of water
when it rains in them as well.

My home is over 80 years old,

Which has its quirks to it:

Creaky stairs, pipes that bang,

Windows that make noise
for who knows what reason.

That's just
how older houses are...

They say
their bones are settling.

I don't know what you call it,
but older homes are noisy.

One evening, I'm doing laundry
in the basement...

And I look out of the corner
of my eye,

And I see a blanket.

It's very fluffy and fuzzy...
Gray blanket

Sitting there on the dirt
floor, crumpled up.

And there was absolutely
nothing in that room.

I didn't store anything
in that room

Because water would come in.

I... I felt something was off.

It creeped me out because
I didn't own that blanket.

I had never seen that blanket.

This was not a blanket
that was one of my children's.

Nobody else lived
in the house with me.

It was me and my daughters.

There's no way
it should have been there.

When I saw it, I felt,

"it's fine.
You're being paranoid.

It's just a blanket."

But I really, in the back
of my mind, thought,

"I know everything in my house,

And this blanket was
not my blanket."

So after I see this blanket
in the basement,

I called my friend,
and she told me

To take a picture of it
and then come back the next day

And see if it had moved or not.

So I took a picture
of the blanket,

Meanwhile
feeling a little silly,

But I had this feeling,
so I did it.

The next day,
I came down to the basement,

And the blanket seemed to be
in the same spot.

So I just thought,
maybe it was here

When I moved in
and I never noticed it.

Or maybe it was
in a bag of donations

That I never noticed.

So I tried to forget about it.

I left the blanket alone
at that point.

I... it creeped me out,
to look at it, first of all,

And I just... I didn't know
where it had come from.

- So one day, I was
walking out of my house,

And kate shouts hello to me,

And she tells me that something
weird happened in her house.

- One day, I go into
the second-floor bathroom,

And the toilet seat is left up.

- And I thought, that's odd.

It's only girls there,
so why would that happen?

She said, "I think
I'm goin' a little crazy.

Maybe I forgot.
Maybe I was cleaning it."

- I live with my daughters,
and my mother was visiting.

There is no reason
the toilet seat should be up.

- She thought that was strange,

But why would you think
anything of that

When nothing ever happens
in this neighborhood

Or in her house?

- So I thought, well,
maybe, you know,

My mom likes to clean
when she visits.

Maybe she cleaned
the toilet and left it up.

- And then we kind of
just passed over it

Without thinking
a second thought of it.

- Two weeks later,
she came to visit,

And I asked her about it,
and she said,

"no, I didn't...
I didn't do that."

And then it happened again,

And then a third time.

Very odd.

There had to be
something strange.

Even my ex-husband
didn't come in

To use the bathroom
when he would pick up the kids.

He would just
pick them up and leave.

I didn't have visitors,
any male friends

Come over or anything like that.

At this point,
I really started to wonder...

The toilet seat combined
with the blanket,

And just
a general uneasy feeling.

I really started to ask myself
if somebody was in my house.

It felt so ridiculous

To think about calling
the police and saying,

"excuse me, officer, my toilet
seat has been left up."

It sounds ridiculous.

But I really felt
something was wrong...

I really did.

So when my mom was visiting,

And the toilet seat started
being left up,

I told my mom
that I was feeling leery.

And she started panicking a bit,

And got the flashlight
on her phone,

And had my brother
on speakerphone,

And she started peering
around in dark corners.

She crept down the stairs
in the basement...

Peered into the little room
where the blanket was,

And tried to see if anybody
was hiding under there.

She looked underneath
the dark stairway

In the basement
with her flashlight,

So she was looking.

I thought my big brother
and my mom were overreacting.

They tend to be
very protective of me,

And I thought,

"I'll just humor them, maybe
give them some peace of mind."

But I started noticing noises
that were harder to explain.

I would be lying
in bed at night,

The kids would be asleep,
and I would hear what sounded

Like somebody walking down
the stairs or a door opening.

And it just seemed
very different

Than your normal
creaky, old house sounds.

It sounded like somebody
was moving around in my house.

When you have
these kinds of thoughts,

You almost don't want
to tell anybody

Because you sound like you're
losing your mind a little bit,

And you think, "is this a ghost?

Is this an intruder?
Am I imagining this?"

Some of these things
you keep to yourself,

'cause it just sounds
so outlandish.

But it kept happening.

My kids have visitation

With their dad
every other weekend,

And this particular
Saturday morning,

They were visiting
with their dad for the weekend.

And so I was home alone.
I was using the time

To get caught up
on some housework,

And I was in the kitchen.

It was late morning,
early afternoon.

I was cooking.
I was cleaning.

And I heard some banging noises
upstairs, and I thought,

"those cats really must
be doing something up there."

I really thought
maybe it was the cats.

These cats are
really rambunctious.

They jump on things.
They knock things over.

They jump on you
while you're sleeping.

They are noisy critters.

It was so loud and so deliberate

That I just had to go up
and see what it was.

I walk up the stairs
to the second floor,

And I decided to go check
in my bedroom.

The door was slightly ajar.

And I go to open it
further to enter.

And suddenly...

Someone jumps out
from behind my door

And grabs me by the mouth.

- I walk up the stairs
to the second floor,

And I decided to go check
in my bedroom.

The door was slightly ajar.

And I go to open
it further to enter,

And a man jumps out
from behind my door

And grabs me by the mouth.

I started flailing
and fighting him off.

I then managed to break away

And ran as fast I could
out of my room,

Down my stairs,
and out my front door.

- I had worked
the night shift previously,

And I went to bed
around 5:00 a.M.

I was pretty tired.

And it was a clear morning,
and it was around...

I think it was around 10:00
or 11:00 a.M.,

And I shot up out of bed...

- Because I hear
a bloodcurdling scream

Coming from the street

Like something
I've never heard before.

It's a scream that most people

Have never heard
in their actual life.

It was true terror coming out
of someone's voice.

- I immediately knew
something was wrong.

So I threw my shorts on,
put my glasses on,

And grabbed my g*n,
and ran straight outside

To see what was going on.

When I got outside,
I see kate trembling,

Screaming in the middle
of the street,

Pointing at the house,

Screaming something
along the lines of,

"he attacked me.
He's in there.

Please don't let him get away."

I do have some training
when it comes to firearms,

And I have experience
in some martial arts as well,

So when I saw my neighbor
trembling in fear,

I kind of just
snapped into action.

It was kind of second nature.

And I didn't really think about

If I was putting myself
in danger.

It was kind of just, gosh,
you need to protect this woman.

So I just immediately ran
in between our houses

Through the little corridor...

And turned the safety off
on my g*n

And turned the laser sight on.

And I stood at the back
to cover the house,

To make sure whoever
this person is doesn't leave.

- So I'm on the sidewalk,
on my knees,

In front of my house,
crying and screaming.

All of my neighbors
are surrounding me.

My fear, at this point,

Is that I didn't want him
to escape.

So I stayed there
on my sidewalk,

Right in front of my door.

- At this point,
my fiancée had called 911.

So I'm in the back, and my heart

Was beating out of my chest,

And my eyes are darting...

Window, window, door, window,
just checking.

I saw a little bit
of movement in one window,

Where I think a curtain
was kind of pushed,

And I'm assuming that was
him trying to escape,

But he did see me,
so there was no way to get out.

The whole street,
I think, came out

Within minutes of hearing her
scream on the street.

Immediately
after I had ran to the back,

Minutes later,
there was also about 10

To 15 people
in the front consoling kate.

- All of my neighbors
are surrounding me.

I start to hear the cops coming.

I know they're on their way.

And then about six
to eight cop cars show up,

And they even brought
the k9 unit as well.

- So as my heart's just
beating out of my chest,

Not knowing what I'm doing,

Just standing there, ready
for whatever could happen,

I just slowly
kind of calmed down.

And I heard my fiancée relaying
instructions

From the police, from 911,
to the neighbors in the front

And to me in the back.

And as the first
police officer rolled up,

I holstered my weapon
and slowly walked back

Into my house as they took over.

Everyone, as far as neighbors,

Is instructed to go back inside,

And the police are starting
to take over the situation.

About 15 officers go
into the house,

As 2 or 3 stay outside with kate

As she's behind a police car.

- The officers ask me
what happened.

I explained it to them.

They enter my home
and start yelling out

For him to come out
with his hands up.

He doesn't emerge.

- About 20 minutes go past...

And all the officers come out
with nothing.

Um, very surprised at that,

Because there's no way
that she'd be out

On the street screaming
if nothing happened.

So we were very perplexed at
why they didn't find anything.

- The next thing that happens
is, my neighbor sits me down

On her porch so I can calm down.

She gets me some water,
a sweater.

At this point,
the officers yelled,

"if you don't come out, we have
to bring in the k9 unit."

- They send the k9 unit in.

And I'd say, one minute
after the dog goes in,

You hear barking.

And about five officers go
in to find the dog,

And then, one minute later,
they all emerge

With a guy
that I've never seen before.

- And I see the officers
bring him out in handcuffs,

And I knew this person
that was in my house.

- So the questions running
through my mind

As I see this all
unfold before me

Are "who is this man?

"what is their relationship,

"if they even have
a relationship?

Where did he come from?"

- Cary was my former tenant.

In 2018,
I decided to rent out a room

To bring in
a little extra income.

I have a guest room
that we barely use,

So I decided to rent it out,
just short term.

I just thought it would ease
a little bit of the burden off.

It didn't seem like
too much of a commitment.

When I rented the room to cary,

I had no idea what I was
getting myself into.

He was a quiet,
single young man.

He kept to himself,
an artistic type.

And I thought
it seemed like a good fit.

He wasn't obtrusive.
He wasn't loud.

I thought it would be
a simple, quiet exchange.

Everything was
going pretty well,

But after a few months,
he stopped paying rent.

He was telling me
he was trying to get a job,

But he was having a hard time.

I didn't want
to just throw this person

Out on the street,
but I couldn't have someone

Renting a room from me
and not paying me rent.

As a single mom,

And a working mom,

Things are hard.

I have a mortgage
to maintain, though,

And I am paying
that mortgage by myself.

And this was income
that I needed

To help support my home
and my family.

I told cary that he had
to be out by a certain date,

And that date came and went,
and he refused to leave.

Unfortunately,
I had to start going

Through a formal
eviction process.

I typed up a letter, just
stating my name, cary's name,

Saying, "you have
to leave by this date."

And I signed it, dated it,
and slid it under his door.

And he, again, refused to leave.

So I decided to call
my local police station.

Then the police came
and removed him from my home.

I thought I'd never have
to see him

Or deal with him again.

He confessed to the police

That he had indeed been hiding
in my attic.

He looked so disheveled,

Hair greasy, a mess.

- Thin, dirty, scraggly bearded.

- Like he hadn't eaten
or slept probably in weeks.

His clothes were
really messy and rumpled,

And he was not in good shape.

- His head was down,
and they were walking him out

To one of the police vehicles.

- The police led him out
of my home in handcuffs

And put him in the police car
and took him off to jail.

- Kate is across the street,

And when they pull this man
out of her house,

I see her get very emotional.

She drops to the ground.

She seems scared, crying.

I really didn't know
what was going on.

- When the police escorted him
out of my home,

It was a very sad
and disturbing sight to see.

It really was...
Guys, I'm gonna start crying.

it was so up.

I did a full sweep
of my house at that point,

From the basement
to my first floor,

Second floor bedrooms,
all the way up to the attic.

I found some disturbing items.

It was clear to me that
he was camped out there

For quite a while.

There was a makeshift bed,

Several bottles of urine.

He even had a laptop,

Appears he had been
using my wi-fi.

He had food, drinks,
a makeshift toilet.

Just evidence
of him being in my attic.

The police told me
that, apparently,

He came in through
an unlocked side door,

And that he simply was tired
of being homeless,

And that he wanted
to sleep somewhere warm.

He had been living,
without me knowing,

Right above my daughters' heads
and my head as we slept.

Yeah.

Cary was ultimately convicted
of two felonies

And was sentenced to 18
to 36 months in jail.

After all the dust settled
with this,

I wanted to feel more secure,

So I took
some security measures.

I got my locks changed.

I got an alarm system
for my windows and doors

To help me feel a little safer.

'cause this is my house,
this is my home,

And I want me
and my children to feel

That this is our haven.

What I've learned from this

Is that trusting your instinct
is really important.

Don't doubt yourself.

I think a lot of people,
especially women,

Tend to doubt ourselves.

But you know more
than you think you do.

So over two years later,

I'm still on the same street
in brighton heights,

With mostly
the same wonderful neighbors,

And it just shows you, I made
the right choice moving there.

- I do think that it was
very strong of her to stay

And kind of, you know, combat
those feelings of being scared

And almost being violated
in your own home.

- I don't want this to make
me become jaded in my life.

I don't want this
to make me not care for people.

But I also want to make sure

That I keep myself
and my family safe.

So I'm trying to find that
balance in my life right now.

I'll get there.

- My name's pamela bryan.

In 2016 I was living
in jacksonville, florida,

With my husband
and my youngest son, samuel.

- So we actually purchased
the home

From my wife's parents,

Which happened to be the
same home where she grew up

And lived in her whole life.

- Yeah, we offered
to buy the house from 'em,

And that's where
we raised our sons.

- Jacksonville, florida,
is surrounded by water.

There's rivers, there's creeks,

There's lakes,
and everything else.

- We have a couple
of creeks near our home.

They change with the tide,
so, you know,

They go low, they go high.

And it was great, too,
that my kids were raised

In a time where they could
be outside and play

And not feel threatened.

So I'm thankful that they got
to experience that.

- In 2016, I was 24 years old,

Living with my parents
in jacksonville, florida.

At the time, it was
just my parents and myself.

I was actually born
and raised in that house.

I have three older brothers.

My brothers
eventually moved out.

Then it was just me
at the house.

- Samuel's our baby.
He's our baby boy.

- In 2016, my girlfriend,
courtney, and I were

In a very serious relationship,

And she said yes to my proposal.

- He showed us
that beautiful ring

He bought for her.

He was so happy, so proud.

- And I knew that my boy was
seriously in love, you know.

- So the plans
after getting engaged

Was for me to move out
into an apartment,

Kind of get it furnished
and ready.

And then, after me
and courtney get married,

Then she would be moving
into that apartment with me.

- The week between christmas
and new year's,

Our two oldest grandchildren...

They wanted to come over
and spend the night with us.

At the time,
they were seven years old.

My granddaughter had spent
the night several times before,

But it was the first time
for my grandson.

- We played games at night.

We watched movies,
popped popcorn.

- The grandkids
actually slept in the den.

I went to bed before midnight,
and I did not hear anything.

As a matter of fact,
I don't even recall

My wife even coming in...
Into the bedroom at night.

- It was probably 2:00
in the morning

When I finally saw them fall
off to sleep

And I was able to, you know,

Turn the lights off
and go get ready for bed.

It was probably about
3:00 in the morning

When I laid down.

- That morning,
I woke up around 7:15

To get ready for work.

At the time, I was working

For this company located
in jacksonville,

And I was a project manager
for that company.

You know, you wear
collared shirts there,

Usually buttoned up, or a polo.

So I grabbed
some clothes for work,

And what I'd do...
I'd just put my shirt

In the dryer every morning,
just to kind of get

A good refresh and have it
warm for the workday.

The house was very quiet.

I was the only one awake
at the time.

It was different
because I knew that my niece

And nephew had stayed the night,

So they were sleeping
out in the family room.

So as you walk into the house,
there's a living room,

And then, whenever you walk
to the dining room,

If you keep going to the right,

That's where all three
bedrooms and the bathroom is.

If you go to the left, you'll
end up going to the kitchen,

And then through the kitchen,

It goes into
a bigger family room.

If you take the left before
you go into the family room,

You'll go out
onto the back porch.

If you go to the left,

That is the door that leads
into the laundry room.

So the first thing I noticed:

The laundry room door
was closed.

It's never closed.

The laundry room door
is never closed.

My mom's baskets
that she usually

Collects is on the floor.

So I tried to open up
the laundry room door.

It's barricaded by
the vacuum cleaner that my mom

Usually keeps right next
to the washing machine.

I didn't know
if maybe some clothes

Have gotten
behind the vacuum cleaner

That caused the vacuum cleaner
to come up a little bit.

And so I'm thinking,

I don't know what it is, but
I gotta get ready for work.

So I just kept
on pushing the door through.

It's a complete mess.

And there's mud everywhere.

There's mud on the washer.
There's mud on the dryer.

And then, I'm looking
a little bit closer,

And I see bloodstains
on the dryer.

I immediately take a step back

And realize that this is bad.

- There's mud on the washer,
there's mud on the dryer...

And I see bloodstains
on the dryer.

I realize that this is bad.

I immediately go in
and wake up my dad.

- I was awoken by sammy.
He came into the bedroom.

And remember him sort of
shake me, "hey, dad. Hey, dad.

Did you happen to be in
the laundry room last night?"

I said, "no, son, I have not."

And he goes,
"something's not right.

"laundry room's a mess,
and there's some mud

Or something
on the washing machine."

And my first thought was,
maybe just some wild animal

Maybe got in there
and they had a little fight.

- I was like,
"no, this is no animal.

It's something more than that."

- I went, "okay,"
to satisfy him.

I get up and see.

I get out of bed, and of course,

I just have my night attire,

Boxer shorts
and a v-neck t-shirt,

You know, and barefooted.

I do see that the laundry room
is pretty messed up.

So I looked up into the ceiling

Of the laundry room,

And I could see a piece
of paneling had been torn down

That had been covering two holes

Where the air conditioning
unit used to be,

And I just screwed up
some plyboard up into that

Just to cover the holes,
of course.

It had been ripped down...
I mean ripped.

It was screwed up there.
I'm talking about

Maybe 20-24 screws
that I put up there.

- There was no tools,
'cause everything was

In the garage,
so it would have taken

Someone with insane
superhuman strength

To really just pull that down.

- Of course,
you get some goose bumps,

And you're thinking,
"something's going on here."

Samuel looked up
into this access hole

That had been torn down.

He could see some mud debris

And also three
or four spots of blood.

I knew then that
this was not good at all.

- We knew that the only
place for him to go was up.

We knew that someone
was up in our attic.

- Once you's up in the attic,

You have access
to every room in the house.

I took samuel to the side.

I said,
"please go outside, call 911,

And tell them that we think
we have an intruder."

And I added
that I would be armed.

- He said,
"you go call the police.

I'm gonna go get my g*n."

My dad has never used
that phrase of,

"I'm gonna get my g*n."

Something's about to happen,

And it's not gonna be good.

My initial thought was,
"I'm gonna go get my niece.

I'm gonna go get my nephew
and make sure they're safe."

And I tell them
to go stay in my room.

- It's more of
a cathedral type of ceiling.

There's no crawl space
over that part of the home.

I think he even locked
the door behind him

To make sure they were safe.

- So I dial 911,
I call the police,

And I tell them
that someone is in our attic.

Can you please send
someone right away,

Because, you know,
our family's in danger?

- My husband comes into the
bedroom, and he wakes me up.

He says "pam."
he goes, "get up."

He goes, "there's someone
out in our laundry room."

So I did take time
to make our bed.

I don't know why, just...
I guess habit.

- She was gonna start
by making the beds.

So she... I said "pam,
I think we can do this later."

So I went and got my firearm

And made sure
that it was fully loaded.

- I was very disoriented.
I hadn't been to bed very long.

So I'm like, "is he serious?
Is this really happening?"

So I actually walked
into the kitchen where he was

To make sure
that I heard correctly.

So I walked in there, and I s...

Saw him standing
at the back door

In his t-shirt and underwear,
holding a g*n at our back door.

And I said, "are you serious?"

He goes, "yes, this is serious.

"he's actually out there.
There's someone

In our laundry room,
up in the attic."

He goes,
"get the kids and take them

Next door to our neighbors."

So that's what I did.
I went back there

And got them up,
and samuel and I carried them

Over next door
to our neighbor's house.

- I really didn't want them
to see anything.

I really didn't want this to be
a traumatizing event for them.

- By this time,
I didn't know if it was one,

Two people.
Were they were armed?

So I actually yelled
up into the attic.

Said, "whoever you are,
stay where you are."

I said, "if I do see you,
I will sh**t you.

"best thing for you to do
is to stay where you are

"until the police get here,
'cause they'll be more lenient

And maybe more kind
than this homeowner would be."

- I was talking to the police
on the phone,

And she also asked what my dad
was wearing at the time,

Because, since he had a g*n,
whenever they showed up,

They didn't want
to sh**t my dad instead.

- Waiting for the police-
sometimes, it might be only

Just a couple minutes,
but it seems like a lifetime.

I was getting very impatient.

I made my mind up at that point

That if he just ran, let him go.

If we made eye contact,

I was gonna have
to pull the trigger.

I mean, this guy could have
came through the ceiling

At any point.

- So it took a little bit,

But the cops eventually
showed up with four cop cars.

- They did come into the house.

They asked me to disarm,
which I did.

And so they walked
around a little bit.

And they said, "what makes you
think he's in the home still?"

And I explained to him,

The laundry room was barricaded.

You can't do that

From the outside
of the laundry room.

It has to be from the inside.

And there was a call
that one of our neighbors,

Down at the end of our street,
had reported that they had seen

Some blood and muddy footprints
on their driveway.

So they sent their rookie cop
down to check this out.

They were, like,
not too concerned at the time.

Well, when the rookie cop
came back,

He goes, "mr. Bryan,
something ain't right."

He had actually followed
a trail of mud, blood,

Up every single home in our
neighborhood, up to our home.

I had not even seen
some of the evidence

On the front porch
and the side of the house.

But he came in.
He asked to borrow a ladder.

He did a couple of little hand
motions with one of his hands,

And at that time,
it all broke loose.

I'm in the kitchen.
I heard yelling,

Demands from the police officers

To "put your hands up.

Show me your hands.
Show me your hands."

Wasn't talking very nice,
of course.

And I remember,
I just sort of stuck

My head out the door.

I said, "whatever you do,
do not bring him

"through my home.

Take him
through the back fence."

I didn't want this guy
in the home.

- I'm talking to my neighbor,

Kind of filling her in
on what was going on.

And I just look at my house,

And I see the cops
bringing out a man.

The man just looked
extremely muddy,

Just covered in mud.

- I think he had a pair
of shorts on, barefooted.

He had some cuts
and bruises on him.

His feet had been chewed up,

I guess when he was walking
across this creek.

It was low tide
in this marshy area.

I guess he had stepped
on some shells and stuff.

- But I noticed
how young he looked.

You know, just,

Same age as one of my sons.

And I guess, being a mom,
my heart went out to him.

- I got a phone call
on my cell phone.

It was a police officer.

I answer the phone,
he goes, "mr. Bryan,

The young man wants
to speak to you."

I went, "what young man?"

And he goes,
"the young man we arrested.

He wants to talk to you."

I approached the car,
and he looked up at me...

I'll never forget
the look on his face.

He goes, "thank you
for not sh**ting me."

I said, "buddy,"
I said, "if I would have

Seen your face,
I would have shot you."

He goes, "I know you would have,

But thank you
for not sh**ting me."

And at this time, I was like,

"what were you thinking?
What's going on, man?"

Well, the young man was...
I guess, had been doing

Some serious drugs.

And he thought people were
trying to chase him down

To hurt him,
and he just wanted to hide.

He was actually running
for his life.

He took my home as refuge.

- The police told us
his name was marcus hull,

And he was charged
with trespassing.

- I think it affected samuel
more than any of us.

One, he was a lot younger.

- When everything
sort of died down,

The adrenaline went away.

I just wanted to take a shower

And so I could kind of
move on with my life.

I literally went to the shower,
and I just cried.

Because the event was over.

Thank god he wasn't armed,

That he wasn't there to hurt us.

But if he was, I...

I still went through the door.

If I would have barged
through the laundry room door,

And he was up there,
waiting on me with a g*n,

It would have been
a completely different story.

Phew.

So I learned a lot
about my dad that morning.

The way
that he protected the family,

The way that he did.

I can use that for my wife,

For my child
that's about to be born.

I know... I know how
to protect my house.

- I was prepared to sh**t him.

Thank god I did not.

- Just but by the grace of god,
that could be one of our boys,

And I'm just so thankful that
it turned out the way it did.

- Until this, I had never heard

What a phrogger was,
never heard the term.

But looks like we had
a phrogger going from house

To house, and the "phrog"
ended up in our house.

- The window screen
looks busted,

Like it had been tampered with.

Something was up.

- I find fruit lined up

Like an edible choo-choo train.

It quietly screamed,

"I was here."

- The room looked
like it had been ransacked.

There was something
under the bed.

- And I knew that silhouette,

And I'm being hunted
like an animal,

And I would have to suffer
for not wanting him.