Woman’s face-to-face with intruder is caught on video
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – They were the most terrifying moments of this young woman’s life, a night of sheer terror where she came face-to-face with pure evil in her own home.
On Wednesday night, while the St. Petersburg woman was out for a bike ride, a mystery man broke into her home. He began casing her home on Paris Avenue South.
It’s all caught on camera.
The man is seen with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, darting around the room, rummaging through things. But, his actions were not without a plan. He knew what he was going to do later that night, according to detectives.
The guy propped open a window, just enough, so he could come back later.
And he did.
The young woman who lives in the home was terrified to show her face during an interview with WISH-TV’s sister station WFLA, but she wanted to share her story. She had no idea that the bad guy had been in her home while she was out for a bike ride.
“When he was there earlier, he positioned the window so he could get in easier,” she told us.
Hours later, as she lay in bed listening to a podcast on her iPhone, she heard a noise outside. She kept pressing pause on the podcast, thinking that the noise was coming from her phone. Then, she decided to check it out for herself.
She was seen on surveillance walking to her front door after hearing the noise. She checks it out, then returns to her bedroom. That’s when the terror began. She is heard screaming over and over again as she comes face-to-face with the suspect.
The surveillance video shows her walking around, following the burglar’s instructions. He tells her that he wants money, demanding cash, her cellphone and her keys.
“He was a professional I believe,” she said. “He had gloves on, he had a hoodie on, he had a mask on. So, he wasn’t trying to touch many things.”
Moments later, he made her go back to her bedroom, and she was convinced at that moment he was about to rape her. She knew she had to act fast. She tells us that she glanced at the window and seized the moment.
She ran to the window, ripped apart the curtains and blinds and the opened the glass and let out a blood curdling scream. She can be heard in the video yelling, “help me, help me.”
In the end, she explained, “I just told him, ‘you can take my stuff, you can take everything that you want, but you can’t take my body,’ and, I just went for it, I yelled out.”
She said she wanted to tell her story so that people would understand just how serious this was and how terrified she felt.
“I just want him to be caught,” she said.
If you know who this man is, please call 911 immediately.