01x09 - Crawlspace Creeper and in the Shadows

[bunniefuu]

- I heard something behind me.

- From the base of my stairs,

I could hear my attic door
being opened.

- He had used the bathroom
inside a gift bag.

Air freshener was there
to cover up the smell.

- And that's when
the bad part hit, to me.

- "he's gonna sh**t me
right here,

And I'm gonna die."

- 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.

- 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'm living in almont, michigan,

About 45 miles north of detroit.

It's a very small town.
It's very country.

Very peaceful
to live in almont...

Very quiet,
never lock your doors,

That kind of city.

I have a house on two acres.

The house is a tri-level...

A 2 1/2-car extended garage.

On the entry level
is a laundry room,

A bathroom, kitchen,
dining room, living room.

The lower level is one big
family room and a coat closet.

At the back of the closet
is our crawl space.

And the upper level is
four bedrooms and a bathroom.

The property has a pond,
two sheds, a pool,

Ravines in the front,
a lot of wildlife.

We moved from the city
to almont for the country life,

For peace and quiet,
safer place to live,

Better schools,
that kind of stuff.

- In 2019, my children
were living with my mom.

My mom helped me raise
my children for ten years,

And they loved it there.

And it was just really
a good bonding time for them,

Family time.

- I actually have
15 grandchildren,

But I had custody
of three of them.

Two of them are boys
and one of them are a girl.

And at that time,
they were 10, 12, and 14.

My ex-husband and I had been
divorced for five years,

But we were on friendly terms,
and we kept in touch.

We had a lot of grandchildren
and children together.

And over the holidays,

My ex-husband had stayed
at my house for a few weeks

Because my house
is one of those houses

Where everybody comes and stays
for days, weekends,

Weeks on end.

- Her house has always been
my home away from home.

There's so much to do.

You know, the kids
are all there.

Everything is lively.
It's happening.

And I get there,
and I don't want to leave.

Shelly and I met
when I was three.

We became un-separable.

- She is actually
more like my sister.

She's my family.

- She's a lot of fun.

She's very adventurous,

And she has such a huge heart.

- She lives in warren, michigan,

Which is about 40 miles away.

- But we message each other
every day.

I don't think that there's a day

That doesn't go by
that I don't hear from her.

- She's the greatest person.
She really is.

- There was just so much love
in that house.

- It was a great place to live

For a while.

I'm a mail carrier for the
united states postal service.

The couple months
after christmas

Is still usually busy season
for the post office

Because of the large amount
of returns.

It's exhausting.

So, one day, in the middle
of our busy season,

I started to notice
some things around the house.

I came home from work
after working 12 hours,

And I opened up the refrigerator

To grab a vodka c*ck,

And it wasn't there.

I just chalked it up as
to I probably drank them all,

Being as I walk around
like a zombie

From working
60-plus hours a week.

So I just brushed it off.

A typical morning
at the house is very hectic.

It's trying to get them
out of bed,

Trying to get the dogs fed,

Get the kids dressed,
get myself dressed,

Drink some coffee...

Get all their stuff
ready for school,

And the bus does pick them up
in front of the home.

I went into the bathroom,

And I'm looking
for air freshener.

I had just put a brand-new can

In the bathroom two days prior,

And I couldn't find it.

I just thought, "okay,
well, one of the kids took it."

So the next day
when the kids had got up,

I asked them, I'm like,

"what did you guys do
with the air freshener?"

And they all said
they didn't touch it, so...

But that's normal for teenagers
to say they didn't do anything.

So I proceeded to look
through their bedrooms.

- She's awesome with my kids.

She is their second mom.
They call her "mom," too.

She puts them before
anything else in her life.

- They're a handful,
and they do keep me going,

But I love them to death.

Kids lose things.

They just put things
in random places.

I never found the air freshener.

Over the course
of a couple days,

I was looking for cereal,

Cheese sticks,

And ramen noodles that had
just seemed to all disappear.

I'd just bought the cereal,
and I asked the kids,

"did you guys eat
a whole box of cereal?"

And they're like, "we didn't
touch the cereal, nana."

So I just let it go,

Because, like, sometimes
the youngest one,

He'll sit and eat
three or four bowls of cereal.

I just assumed that
he told me he didn't eat it

So that he, you know,
wouldn't be in trouble,

Which he wouldn't have been,
but children just tell stories.

One night I was in bed,
and the dogs started barking.

I went downstairs to check out
why they were barking.

They bark a lot,

And anybody walking by
with another dog,

Any deer in the backyard
at the pond,

Any other thing
that they happen to see

That we don't at night,
they go crazy.

I didn't see anything.

After a few minutes,
they stopped.

We lived on two acres
with a pond,

So I just assumed
it was a deer, a raccoon,

You know, something like that.

So I went upstairs
and went back to bed.

It happened again,
like, two hours later.

And then I sent the kids
downstairs.

So they went downstairs,
and they said

They just told the dogs
to stop barking,

And they did.

On February 20th,
early in the morning,

The house was noisy.

Three kids, three dogs,
a cat, yeah.

So I was outside
drinking coffee.

And I noticed that
there were some footprints

And also bike tire tracks

Leading from the shed
to the road.

And I just thought that
the kids had went in there

To get a sled or something.

The bus came,
and the kids got on the bus.

Being a mail carrier in
michigan in February is hard.

It's layers
and layers of clothes,

Ice, snow.

I usually wear,
like, four layers of clothes.

I noticed
it was 12 degrees outside.

So I went upstairs to my bedroom

To put on
more layers of clothes.

I was dressing, and I heard
something behind me.

And I turned around.

And it's my ex-husband.

And I know I'm in trouble.

He had a g*n in his hand.

and in my head,

I just thought and I felt like,

"he's gonna sh**t me right
here, and I'm gonna die."

I turned around...

And it's my ex-husband.

And he said,
"say your prayers, b*tch.

We're both gonna die today."

And he pointed it
directly at my head.

- My stepdad was loving, caring.

Just thinking about them and
how long they've been together

In their relationship,

I would've just never pictured
that happening.

- We had been married twice.

Once when I was 19 years old,

We were married for four years,

And then we remarried again
in 2006.

And we got a divorce in 2015.

When I looked into his eyes,
I seen nothing...

No feeling, no emotion.

He was not the man that I knew

And that I had loved
for so many years.

He had me go downstairs.

He sat me
at the dining room table.

And he took my cell phone.

And he threw my cell phone

Up on top
of the kitchen cabinets.

I, at that point, tried to run
out my backdoor.

He caught me
by the back of my hoodie.

He sat me back down
at the table.

He put the g*n to my head.

And he c*ck the g*n,
and he told me

If I tried that again

That my brains were gonna be
all over the wall.

He barricaded the back door

With the rest
of the dining room chairs

So that I couldn't try
to run again.

And he's pacing,
waving the g*n around.

He just told me
he wanted answers

To why I didn't want
to be with him.

I didn't have answers,
and I'm just in total shock.

Then I ask him,
"can I get something to eat?

Can I make a bagel?"

I had an ulterior motive.

My grandson's phone was sitting
over by the toaster oven.

And I tried to get the phone.

He saw me.
He got really angry.

He took that phone also,

And he threw it on top
of the kitchen cabinets.

At that point,
I was trying to talk to him.

I'm, like, telling him,
"you can't let these kids,

The grandkids,
come home and find me dead."

"you can't do that to them."

- I think it's just so selfless
to think about them

And not herself, but
she always does that, though.

She puts them before
anything else in her life.

- I was trying to get to him
through the kids

To make him at least
try to feel something

Because he loved those kids,
and I knew this.

so...

At that point, he told me

That I needed to roll
a bunch of cigarettes

Because it was gonna be
a long day.

So he gave me
the rolling machine,

Tobacco and tubes

In which I just set
and rolled cigarettes

While he paced the kitchen
with the g*n.

He handed me my phone back,
and he told me

To cash app the money
in my bank account

To his cash app card.

I never connect my phone
to the wi-fi

Because the kids suck it up
with their games.

So, when I did it,

In little letters
across the bottom,

It said "waiting
for wi-fi connection."

So the money had never
actually transferred.

He thought that it did.

At that point, he told me
to grab a coat.

And he had the g*n
in his pocket.

He had me walk to the shed

And get his bike...

That it was hidden
behind my shed.

And he told me
if I tried to run or scream...

That he would just sh**t me.

He had me load his bicycle
into my van.

He had me go back
into the house.

Told me to take off my coat,

And then he told me
I needed to go downstairs

Into the crawl space.

I went downstairs.

I opened the door
to the crawl space,

And he told me
I needed to go left.

I needed to crawl
and not look back.

and in my head,

I just thought and I felt like,

"he's gonna sh**t me right here

"because he just doesn't want

To look at my face
when he does it."

So I'm just waiting
for the shot.

I'm just waiting to be shot.

I'm crawling to the wall
like he told me.

He had crawled in,
and he wanted me

Nowhere near
the door apparently.

And he retrieved a backpack
he had in there.

At that point, I realized
that he had been in my house.

I had no clue.

That was
the most horrible feeling.

Everything that was missing
was there.

The empty bottles of vodka
that I was missing,

The empty cup of ramen noodles,

The empty cereal box.

He had used the bathroom
inside a gift bag.

Air freshener was there.

It was more than likely being
used to cover up the smell.

I believe that he was just up
and roaming the house,

Doing whatever he wanted
while we were gone.

So he crawled back out.

He told me
to crawl out backwards,

Because the crawl space
is only three feet high.

And I crawled back out,

And he had me go back upstairs.

And he's pulling the backpack
out on the counter,

And he's pulling food

That he had taken
out of my refrigerator

And my cabinets,

And he starts laughing at me
and telling me how stupid I was

That I didn't even know
that he was taking the food...

and that he was in my house.

And then he told me...

to make some sandwiches,

Because we were leaving.

So...

I made about six sandwiches,

And he put them
into his little backpack.

He told me to get a warm coat.

And I grabbed the coat

That had the second key
to my van in it.

Then we walked out
the back door,

And he told me

To climb into the back
of the van and lay down.

And if I drew any attention
to myself again

That he would sh**t me.

He pulled out of the driveway.

I was laying in the back floor,

And I'm watching the signs,
where we're going.

I know we're going south
on m-53.

I didn't know
where we were going.

We'd been driving probably
for 20 minutes.

He said,
"we're going to detroit."

He didn't gag me or anything.

He just child-locked the doors,

And he's talking to himself...

That he needs to make sure

That the money's there
before he gets rid of me.

We're driving probably
for another 20 more minutes,

And we cross into detroit.

I knew exactly where I was at

Because I grew up in warren,
which borders detroit.

He pulled over
right past the gas station,

So I knew that was the bank,

And they have
a walk-up atm up front.

He was getting out, and he said,

"if I see your head,
I will blow your brains out."

I was just so freaked out
at this point.

And...

At that point, I told myself,

"if you don't get away now,
you're gonna die."

I decided
that if I was gonna die,

I was gonna die my way.

So I tried jumping over,
and I got my leg caught.

He seen me in the front seat.

I had managed then to pull
the rest of myself over,

And he jumped back
to the vehicle.

I put the car into drive.

And I literally just pulled
right out

Into oncoming traffic.

He ran into an alley.

I was very angry
and not thinking,

So I started to chase him down.

And then I thought,

"what are you doing?"

So I turned around,

And I drove
to my best friend's house,

Who happened to live one mile
from where I escaped.

- My niece came into my bedroom.

She said the mail lady

Was knocking at the door
really hard

And she wasn't sure what to do.

And I says,
"let the mail lady in."

I'm thinking
somebody's chasing her.

So, you know, we open the door,

And there's my best friend,

Like, crying
and, like, just frantic.

I couldn't make out some
of the stuff she was saying

Because she was so distraught.

She just told me that,

"my ex-husband tried
to kidnap me and m*rder me."

And I just, like, grabbed her
and hugged her.

I said,
"we have to call 911."

- When I called 911,

They asked me
for his phone number,

And they started pinging
his cell phone.

They told me the area
that he was in,

And they asked me
if I knew anyplace

In that area that he could be,

And I'm like, "well,
that's where his mom lives."

I was told to drive to
the almont police department.

We went to the house.

They started taking
crime scene photos.

Turns out that the footprints
in the snow were not the kids.

They were his footprints.

He had actually rode a 10-speed

In the middle of winter
53 miles.

He had mapped out
all the back roads

To get to my house

So he wouldn't be caught
with that firearm on him.

We believe he entered the home.

After the kids had come home
from school,

They always immediately
take the dogs out,

And we live in this little,
tiny, small town.

We don't lock doors.

And they proceeded
to go upstairs,

Which is their pattern,

And he knew their pattern.

It's believed
that he then entered

And proceeded downstairs
to hide in the crawl space.

The next day I just decided

That I could not be
in that house any longer.

So I took the kids
out of school,

And we just got in the van,
and we drove to florida.

While I was gone,
I had a friend of mine

Put a padlock
on that crawl space

Because I still couldn't wrap
my head

Around that he had been
in my home for days

And that I didn't even know it.

- Nobody felt safe there.

I mean, the kids really didn't
even want to stay.

They wouldn't come back
until alarm system was put up.

- My daughter said,

"if papa can do this
to nana, mom,

What would a stranger do to us
if they came in?"

And she has never
been comfortable

In that house
since that happened.

- They later found him

In an alley
behind his mother's house.

- He had a lot
of unresolved issues,

Like, with anger, drinking.

He had to have snapped,

Or something had to have, like,
really went wrong in his mind

For him to even want to do
something like that.

She's a survivor.

Here you're staring at a g*n,

Thinking that your life
is gonna end,

And then for you
to be so quick-witted.

Like, "I'm not gonna let
this fool do this to me."

That's the friend that I know.

- She's always been a fighter.

She's always been
quick to think.

- I did it for the kids

Because they needed me.

My whole family needed me.

- My mom is like wonder woman.
She's awesome.

- My name is paul haynes,
and in 2018,

I had my home
on north padre island.

Padre island's
about 150 miles long.

It's only about a mile
to a mile and a half wide.

- My name is dale rankin,
and in 2018,

I was and continue to be,

The publisher of
the "island moon newspaper,"

A free weekly
on padre island, texas.

The latest census puts us
at 10,000.

Out of those, probably about
7,000 are permanent residents.

There are very few people
who grew up

On or around the island,
and paul is one of them

- Growing up on the island
was truly a paradise for a boy.

Riding motocross bikes
almost every weekend.

Anything you wanted to do,
you had it there.

Everything slows down
just a little bit

From the mainland, yeah.

- If you live on the island

And make a living on the island,

You pretty much have to be
in the tourist industry,

The maritime industry,
or independently wealthy.

Many people own a house.

They travel for work
for long periods of time,

And they come back
and spend time there.

- Since 2015, I've been working
in saudi arabia

As a training coordinator
at a petrol chemical plant.

About every six months,

I was able to come home
for a couple weeks.

- We have 16 miles of canals.

So we have 32 miles
of waterfront homes.

- Mine faces the main canal,

So it's almost like
living on a lake.

I've got a fantastic view.

My town house...
About 1,300 square feet,

And it's
a "five town house" building.

I share a wall on both sides.

I'm second from the end.

It's two story
and three bedroom.

Well, as soon as you walk in,
if you did a u-turn,

You'd be into
the downstairs bedroom.

If you didn't, you'd just walk
down the hallway

Past the kitchen
and into the open living room

Right out to the deck.

Halfway through walking
towards the deck,

There's the stairs going up.

At the top of the stairs,
you have a third bedroom,

Smaller bedroom,
and you make a u-turn

At the top of the stairs
heading back towards

The water again,
that's the master bedroom.

And you walk out
onto the balcony.

I do have an attic.

In the upstairs master closet,

There's a big old attic
access door there.

I was planning my annual trip
home for christmas,

And my mom
go check up on the place,

You know, a week
or two before I come home

Just to straighten up and
make sure everything was okay.

And about a week
before I was to fly home,

I get a phone call
from my mother back home,

And she commenced to scold me

For leaving my downstairs
bathroom in such a mess.

She's very stern, strong woman.

She had to deal with my father
for 18 years.

And I said, "mother, I haven't
been there to make a mess.

It was sparkling when I left.
I don't know how it got dirty."

So she said, "okay, well,
I'll get to cleaning it up

'cause it's
in pretty bad shape."

A few hours later,
I get a call back from her,

And she says,
"there's something wrong."

And I said, "what do you mean
by 'something wrong?'"

She goes, "the chair that you
kept your digital antenna on

Has been moved."

It was in front
of the sliding doors,

But now it's
over by the fireplace.

She goes, "paul, there's been
somebody here."

So we did
a little investigating,

And I went online
and checked my water bill,

And sure enough,
there was a spike

In the water usage
over a several-week period.

So somebody was using my water,

Maybe outside, but considering
the condition

The downstairs bathroom
was in, it's highly unlikely.

So, from there, we decided

Somebody had been in there,
but we didn't know who.

And now
I start to getting scared,

'cause my mom was 80 years old
at the time

And there all alone,

Even though mama does pack.

So, hop on the plane,

Took the grueling trip
back home.

Walked in.

I went upstairs
and started noticing things.

My upstairs closet...

Just a couple subtle things
had been moved around.

And I looked up,

And the lock leading
to the attic was open.

Now, I would normally never
go up there,

And I couldn't understand
any reason

Why my mother would go up there.

She's the only one that's been
in the house as far as I knew.

So I concluded she was right.

There's definitely
been somebody there.

So I called the police.

I want a report made.

I wanted it on paper.
I want it documented.

And an officer showed up
quite quickly.

We went through the house,
including the attic,

And we verified
everything was clear.

So the next day,
after the 9,000-mile trip

And the 30 hours travel time,
first thing you have to do

Is try to figure out
a way to unwind.

I went for a drive
down the beach,

And on padre island,
you can drive down the beach.

I came back home
a little after lunchtime.

When I returned,

I see my front door is open
about a foot.

It was a door that was still
there when I bought the place,

And you could easily open it
with a screwdriver.

And I walked up,

Opened the door
a little bit more,

Walked in a few feet,
had a quick look around,

I walked straight
to the base of the stairs.

I almost went up, but
I stopped myself right there,

And that's when
I made my presence known.

From the base of my stairs,

I could hear
my attic door being opened.

I heard the springs expand,

I heard the ladder be unfolded,
and I could hear people

Scuffling up the ladder
into my attic.

I was extremely angry,

And I was ready to take things
in my own hand.

- From the base of my stairs,

I could hear
my attic door being opened.

I heard the springs expand,
I heard the ladder be unfolded,

And I could hear people

Scuffling up the ladder
into my attic.

So I decided I was not gonna
call the police this time.

I'll handle
the situation myself.

I yelled,
"I know you're in my home.

I could hear you
open the attic door."

I just told them
in no uncertain terms,

"it's time for you to go."

I said, "you have two options.

"you can go out the balcony
and jump off,

"or I'm gonna go out
in the parking lot area,

And you can walk out
the front door."

I said,
"I believe in second chances.

Here's your chance."

My main goal at that point,
maybe as dumb as it was,

I wanted to see where they went.

They don't want to be seen.

They want to be a shadow.
They want to stay that way.

They don't want you
to see their face.

That puts the end
to everything they're doing.

I'm on the street side.

They're on the water side
at this point.

I could hear them climbing
around from my balcony

To my neighbor's balcony
on the end.

So they chose the option

To climb
onto my neighbor's balcony

And hang off of his, I guess,

And drop down to the lower deck.

And I heard them, boom, boom,
boom... three right in a row.

At that point, I was so mad,
I couldn't stand it anymore.

So I kind of just moved over
enough behind the shrubbery

And the palm trees just to
where I could see through them

A little bit,
but they couldn't see me.

So I watched them climb up

On the roof
of the building next door.

I don't know if they actually
went into that town house.

My neighbors are only there

About every three to six months,

So they were always empty.

So it was a couple days later,

And I stopped
by the "island moon" office

On padre island.

I wanted to make residents
on the island aware of this.

- I'm sitting at my desk,
and paul walks up to me

And says that he found
some people living in his house

When he came home
from saudi arabia.

And he started telling me
the story,

And before he got very far,
I said,

"well, this story sounds to me

Like it's at your house,
not in my office."

So I grabbed the video camera,
and off we went.

I do a weekly story
called "the island report"

For a local television
affiliate once a week.

I do mostly light stuff,

But I also do hard news
when the situation warrants.

The interest to me is,
if 30% of the homes

On the island
are not occupied full-time,

This could happen
in any one of these houses.

As you drive down
the central street,

The houses on both sides
are on the water.

So, essentially,
it's a dead-end street.

We pulled up in front,
and my first thought was,

"I can see why
they picked this place."

It's at the end of cul-de-sac.

It's got a covered walkway

That if you went in here at
night and the light wasn't on,

No one would know
you were there.

As we walked into the house,

He started showing me
where he was standing

When he first heard
noises upstairs.

- After we went
through my town house

And I showed him what happened,
we went next door

Because I thought
they may have been inside

My neighbor's house.

I'm not sure if they were.

My building has
five units in it.

I think theirs has six,

But they're about
20 to 25 feet apart.

And that man's unit
is on the very end,

So he's got windows
on three sides.

He had his camera rolling,
and we knocked on that door...

See if we could get a response.

Of course we didn't.

But the one thing we both
noticed, almost simultaneously,

Was the blinds.

All the blinds,
all the way around

Three sides
of that particular town house,

Were all the exact same angle...

Not all the way closed,
not all the way open,

Just enough
where if you were inside,

You could see out,
but you could not see in.

- You could see maybe

An 8th of an inch or so
between the blinds.

- Normally, if somebody's
not staying there,

They just go ahead
and close them.

Through those blinds,
you could see

My entire end of the street,

My parking area, the side area,
the canal area,

Up and down
both sides of the canal.

I'm thinking, "maybe they just
saw my vehicle was gone,

"and they thought I had left

Back to the airport
to saudi arabia or something."

- So, while I'm talking to paul
out in front of the house,

A lady pulls up
in a pickup truck,

And paul tells me
that she lives down the street.

So I went over
and interviewed her.

And she said that she had seen
people coming and going

On the water side
of the house in a kayak,

Taking great pains
not to make any noise,

To be very careful about
how they paddled the kayak

And not talking
amongst themselves

As they made their way
down the canal.

- A few days later,

I'm out hanging out
with friends for a few hours

Till 11:00, 11:30...

Just down the street,
not very far.

I come home for the evening.

I walk upstairs

And just casually walk
into my bedroom,

And shock.

And that's when
the bad part hit, to me.

wow.

- I come home for the evening.

I walk upstairs and just
casually walk into my bedroom,

And shock.

I notice four figures
on my balcony.

The hair stands up
on your neck, first thing.

That's just a natural,
I guess, nerve reaction.

And then you try to comprehend
what's going on right now.

It was very dark.

I see four silhouettes.

So I'm like,
"am I really seeing this?"

They were on the water side,
so there was no lighting.

They were actually backlit

From the lights on
the other side of the canal.

When my eyes
adjusted to the low light,

I asked,
"why are you on my balcony?"

And I'm asking them
through sliding glass doors,

And also, my bed is between us.

And immediately
the response was,

"well, jeff," which is
my next-door neighbor,

Runs an airbnb there.

"jeff said that
if paul wouldn't mind,

"since we have so many people
staying at his place

"that we could spill over
a little bit

Onto your balcony
if we needed the room."

And you can climb

From balcony to balcony
if you're very careful.

They knew my neighbor's name.
They knew my name.

They called me by my name.
They knew I was paul.

It was two adult men
and two juveniles...

Maybe 11, 12 years old.

And I can't see their faces.

They're just wearing

Normal, everyday clothes you
see on the island, you know?

And I said,
"jeff told you that?"

So I'm like, "well, I guess
he thought maybe I was already

"gone back to saudi arabia,
but I'm not.

I'm still here at home."

Right at that moment,

One of the young boys

Raised his arm and had
pointed his finger at me,

Said, "he's watching porn."

You know, it dawned on me
real quick what was going on.

That boy was trained to do that.

It's almost like
they had a script they'd follow

If they got caught
in situations like this.

Kid said that to me to shock me,

To give them time to escape.

Of course, all this is rushing

Through your head
a mile a minute.

You're like, "what do I do?"

So I very sternly said,

"it's time for you
to get off my balcony

And leave my property."

The two adult men helped
the two young boys

From my balcony
to my neighbor's balcony,

And then they
themselves climbed around.

And that's the last
I saw of them.

That's what started
the nightmares.

Was that child beaten until
he had to learn to say that?

It was almost like that boy
was screaming for help.

My childhood was...

Basically I just said to myself,

"that could've been me."

And it just really hit home.

The next day I called jeff
and talked to him about it.

And he gave nobody permission,

And nobody was supposed to be
in his town house that weekend.

After that,
there's no doubt in my mind

They were up on that balcony
trying to jimmy

My sliding glass door open again

With a screwdriver
to get back in.

- After I talked to paul,

I wrote a story
in the "island moon,"

And I put it out a couple
of days later on television.

When a story starts out,
"I came home from saudi arabia,

And I found people
living in my house,"

Then you kind of want to know
what comes after that.

I started getting calls.

You know,
we seen something over here.

We seen something over there.

- I actually talked
to at least a dozen homeowners

Who had people
living in their houses.

They knew they were there

Because things weren't
where they were supposed to be,

But they never really saw them.

- I was very pleased that people

Were waking up
and looking around

And seeing what was going on
around them.

- What it looked to me
like happened

Is these people were working

Somewhere on the island
in a short-term job.

They couldn't stay in a hotel
because it was too expensive.

They thought he had gone back
to saudi arabia,

And so they had
another six months.

- Well, I started doing
investigating of my own.

How do they know
to go to my townhouse?

Every time I come home,
I walk out to check the mail.

Even though it didn't go to my
house when it's supposed to,

I still check the mail,
and there's always a sign

In there that the postman
puts, saying "vacant"...

I guess so they don't fill it
up with junk mail every day.

Well, that's a big green light.

Just go through the mailboxes
and take a look at night

And see which place is vacant.

Watch it for a day or two,
move in.

- The police started
putting the word out.

So we had a rash
of police calls,

And then over time,
the problem mitigated a bit.

I think the word just got out
among whoever the people are

That are living in these houses
that if you go in there,

You're probably gonna
get caught.

- What affects you
may not affect me.

I still don't know
why that one moment

Still to this day...

And I'm getting dizzy
right now thinking about it...

has such a strong effect on me.

It just reminds me how easy it
is to manipulate a child.

- The two adults
and the two kids

That were living in paul's house

Have never been identified
that I'm aware of.

There really wasn't any way
to trace them.

So, wherever they went,
we don't know.

- I remember
like it was yesterday,

And I'm hoping this is gonna...

By me telling the world,

Helps it stop.

- When I was telling people
about these strange things,

I didn't feel like
I was going crazy

But I felt like
I sounded like I was crazy.

- They felt like
it was escalating.

It was really scary.

- I think I was in denial
at first.

- There's no reason
I would be missing

My bathing suit bottoms.

I had the tops, and
just the bottoms were missing.

- Oh, my god, a phrogger
is watching me sleep.

- When it finally sinks in
that someone entered the home

While I was sleeping,
it was terrifying.