01x06 - Deep Denial and Track Star

[bunniefuu]

- It's just so bizarre.

- The door is locked
from the inside.

- You had a perfect
vantage point,

Looking directly
into my bedroom.

- 911, what are you reporting?

- There's a woman in my house...

- The noises started
to get louder.

Am I losing my mind?

- 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.

- 2017, I was living
in a little town

In southern connecticut...

Very kind of sleepy town,
a lot of horse farms around,

Very sort of bucolic
connecticut countryside.

We moved into this
particular house in 2016.

It was my daughter,
who was ten at the time,

Myself, and my then
second husband.

So we moved into this house
because it just was so lovely.

It had such a remote
and relaxing vibe to it.

I remember vividly
the first time

We walked into this house.

There were lots of windows,
lots of light coming in.

It just felt
so bright and cheery.

It's on a big lot,
so it feels very private,

To the point where,
on a lot of the windows,

I didn't even have
window treatments

Because I didn't feel
the need to have them

Because there
was no one to look in.

The house is two-story,

Though there's only
one bedroom upstairs.

That's my daughter's room.

On the ground floor,
there are, you know,

Living room, kitchen,
a nice entry hallway.

Down a longer hallway,
there are two bedrooms,

One we used as a spare tv room.

And then the bedroom at
the end of the long hallway

On the ground floor
is my bedroom where I sleep.

Our house is not a house

That you would just
sort of, like,

Drive past or stumble across,

So you would have
to be deliberately coming

To our house
to get to our house.

And the adjacent property,

There was a home
under construction there,

So nobody was living there.

There were workers there

Working on the house
during the day.

But there was nobody there
at night.

Our closest neighbor
legitimately

Is a quarter of a mile away
on the other side of our lane.

And it's just
surrounded by a wooded area.

So it's quite remote.

It felt like a really happy
home with a lot of good energy.

My daughter's father...

He and I split up
when she was very young,

And we still have
a very good and collaborative

Co-parenting relationship.

He works in the security field,

And he is certainly
someone on whom I can rely.

I married
my second husband in 2012

After we had been dating
for a couple of years.

He worked in education,

And so he certainly
made a concerted effort

To be a positive figure
in my daughter's life.

But there's a lot that
goes into a second marriage.

And it was clear
in October of 2017

That ours was no longer
a viable marriage.

Finally, I asked him
to leave the house.

And so I was on my own again
with my daughter.

My daughter and I were
snuggled on the couch together

Watching a movie,
as we frequently did.

and we heard...

I would describe it as like a...

Almost like a spatter
of acorns or something...

And I say acorns
because it just sounded small...

On the roof over
where we were sitting.

And we both noticed it,
and we hadn't ever noticed

Anything like that before.

And she looked at me, and she
said, "mama what's that?"

And I said, "I don't know.
It's October. It's autumn.

"probably just things falling
from the trees, you know.

We don't need to worry
about it... it's fine."

And it happened
a couple more times

That evening,
and I got her to bed,

And I didn't really
think about it again.

And then the next night we were,

You know, sitting snuggled
together again after dinner

And watching probably
the end of the movie

From the night before.

and we heard

The spattering of acorns again,

And she looked at me,
and she said,

"are you sure that
that's acorns?"

And I said, "sweetheart,

"I don't know what else
it could be,

But I don't think we have
to worry about it."

But it did catch my attention
that time

Because it seemed
to be happening

Exactly over the room
that we were sitting in

And it was strange.

These little noises were
happening on and off

Over the course
of maybe ten days.

and it wasn't every night,

But it was frequent.

And my daughter started
to really notice it,

And it was curious.

I started texting
my second husband

Because I didn't,
quite frankly, know

Who else to text,

And, you know, he had lived
in that house as well.

I guess I wanted, like,
a gut check, sanity check

And, you know, even asked him,

"do you ever remember
hearing anything like this

"when you were here?

Am I just noticing it
because now you're not here?"

And he said, no,
he had never noticed

Anything like that
when he was there.

The noises
started to get louder.

Now it sounded like
large branches

Being thrown onto the roof.

And that was very startling.

That was really frightening.

Now my daughter
was getting frightened.

You know, she started actually
sleeping with a light on,

Which she had not done
since she was a toddler.

She was frequently having

Nightmares
about what she said sounded

Like scratches on her window.

and then there was one night

That something hit the roof...

And bounced and rolled,

And it sounded like
the size of a baseball.

I started texting

My second husband from whom
I was separated at this point.

I texted him, and I said,

"the noises on the roof
are getting louder.

"I just heard something
that I swear to god

Sounded like a baseball."

And he was like,
"what? That's crazy.

"I can come by tomorrow
and take a look

At the yard if you like."

And I know that there had been
a baseball in the yard.

So, you know,
my daughter was in bed,

And I got my flashlight,

Traipsed out there
with a flashlight

Into the pitch black
with my heart

Absolutely hammering
in my chest,

Because if somebody
was out there,

Throwing things on my roof,

Presumably
they were standing there

Watching me come looking around.

And I looked everywhere
with that flashlight,

And I couldn't find
a baseball anywhere.

And I was scared that
I was going to be attacked,

And so I ran back in
and locked the door.

The next day
my second husband did come

To the house
as he had said that he would,

And he texted me
a photo of a baseball.

I was looking at the picture,
thinking...

I remember texting him
back, like, "what? Like, where?

"I was out there
with a flashlight

For five minutes last night,
and it wasn't there."

And he said,
"well, it's here now.

Maybe you just missed it."

I kind of was wondering
at this point,

Am I losing my mind?

Like, what are these noises?

So, after a few weeks
of these noises on the roof,

Then a whole bunch of things
sort of started happening

Kind of in rapid succession
and simultaneously.

I had just actually bought
a new pair of black pants.

I had worn them exactly once,
probably about a week before.

I wanted to wear them again,

And I couldn't
find them in my closet.

Did I leave them
at the dry cleaner?

Did the housekeeper
put them somewhere?

And I couldn't find them
anywhere,

And I had just worn them.

Jewelry that I had worn
was not where it should be.

Lingerie and bras and panties
that I had worn

Were just disappearing
right after I had worn them.

Honestly, I didn't know
what to think.

The things were so strange

That I was doubting myself

And my perception
of what was happening.

The night of my daughter's
holiday concert

At her school
she was very excited.

She wanted me to, you know,

Make sure that she looked nice.

So I had just opened
a new bottle of wine,

Poured myself a glass,

Put the bottle
back in the refrigerator,

And we went down
to my dressing room,

Where I curled her hair and
put on a little makeup for her,

And she looked beautiful.

We went to the concert.
Her father met us there.

You know, we sat together,

And that's actually
when I started telling

My daughter's father
what was going on.

And, you know, he certainly
expressed some concern.

And after the concert,
he took her to his house.

He was gonna have her
for a few days.

So, when I went back home
after the concert,

I was by myself,

And I am able to kind of
exhale a little bit.

Went into the kitchen,

Going to pour myself
another glass of wine.

And when I opened
the refrigerator,

The bottle was exactly
where I had left it,

But it was completely empty.

It had not spilled.
It had not leaked.

There was no wine anywhere

In the refrigerator,
on the floor of my kitchen.

It was just
an empty bottle of wine.

And I absolutely panicked.

I actually called
my best friend, and I said,

"I don't understand
what's happening.

How does wine just disappear?"

And she said, "okay,
you need to leave the house."

- I drove around
for a few minutes.

My best friend said to me,

"call your second husband
and ask if,

"you know, maybe he came by
to get some things of his

"because he knew you were
gonna be at the concert,

"and he thought that would be
the least disruptive time

To come
and get some things."

And I was like, "you know what?
Right, that makes sense."

My second husband said
that absolutely not,

Under any circumstances,
had he come to the house,

That he would not do that
without letting me know

That he was coming.

So that's when one
of my friends said,

"I think maybe you
should call the police."

And I laughed,

Because I said, "and say what?

I can't find the rest
of my bottle of wine?"

I don't know
how well the police

Will receive
a complaint like that.

And so I ended up actually
just going back to the house.

I grabbed a 2x4 from the garage,

I stayed on the phone
with my best friend,

And literally went room by room,

Closet by closet,

Just to make sure
there was nobody in the house.

And there wasn't, and, you know,

That's when
I sat down and just...

I cried.

I couldn't understand
what was happening.

You know, the next logical
question, of course,

Is, who would be doing
these things to me?

It did occur to me that there
was a former security guard

At my then place of business

Who always made me
uncomfortable.

There was the construction
site next door,

So I wondered if possibly

It could have been someone
from there.

But that felt like a stretch.

I couldn't come up with anyone.

And then one day
I came out of work,

And my tire-pressure light
was on,

Which I thought was strange,
but it was also very cold.

I thought, "well,
I'll just get on the highway,

And the tires will warm up,
and the light will go off."

And I was running late
to pick up my daughter

From an after-school activity.

I said, "you know what? Let's
just go grab a bite to eat."

I didn't really have it in me
to make dinner that night.

So we had dinner and came out.

And when we got into the car,
she said,

"mom, why is the car leaning?"

And I got out, and I looked,

And sure enough,
I had two flat tires.

She was clearly concerned.

And I just wanted
to get her home and safe.

So I said, "sweetheart, there's
a gas station right next door.

"we will go.
I will fill the tires.

"and it's only two miles
to home.

"I will get us home.

And I will deal
with this in the morning."

So that's what we did.

So the next day, I got the car
into the dealership,

Where they told me

It looked as though they had
been damaged on the sides.

"maybe you hit a curb,"
and I said "I feel like I would

"remember hitting a curb hard
enough to blow out two tires.

Like, that doesn't
seem right to me."

Of course, he told me
I needed four new tires.

So I, you know, left
the dealership

With four new tires.

I was certainly becoming
very jumpy.

I was sleeping less.

I was not eating so much.

I didn't know what to think.

One day I was pulling out
of my garage to go to work,

And I noticed that there
was a crushed beer can

Right at the edge of my garage,

Which was very strange.

It did occur to me
that there was

The construction site next door,

So I wondered if possibly

It could have
blown over from there,

But that felt like a stretch

Because the construction site
was not very close.

After that first beer can,

I actually found
two subsequent beer cans...

Both the same brand,
both crushed.

One basically
right on my front porch.

It felt like the perimeter

Was closing around me.

I knew at that point that
it was evidence,

So I quickly ran out
wearing gloves

And grabbed the beer can

And put it in a bag
to keep for the police.

I started to feel
like I was perpetually,

Constantly being watched.

I stopped sleeping
pretty much altogether.

I lost a considerable
amount of weight

Because I couldn't eat.

I really started to feel

Like I could barely function

And trying to show up
for work every day

And show up
as a strong mom every day.

And it was starting to feel
like it was just too much.

The next day I wanted to go
out and look in the yard.

And as I was walking through

The kind of wooded area,

I saw a crushed pack
of cigarettes

And then another
and then another.

And then as I looked further,

I noticed an entire ring
of discarded cigarette butts

In this matted area.

And when I saw that someone
had clearly been spending hours

Right in that spot,
and I turned around,

And from that spot exactly...

You had a perfect vantage point,

Looking directly
into my bedroom.

I really felt
like it was time for me

To go to the police
at this point.

And I didn't want to
call the police to my house.

I really didn't want
to frighten my daughter

Any more than she was
already frightened.

So I decided I would go
to the police

And asked my second husband
if he would be willing

To go to the police with me.

And he said yes,
that he absolutely

Would go to the police with me.

It was awkward, obviously,

Because we were not
in a good place

And he knew my intention
was to get divorced,

But at the same time,
he did show up

And try to be supportive to me.

So the next morning

I get my daughter off
to school, get her on the bus,

And I get into my car
in the garage

To go to the police

And the tire-pressure light
is on again.

It's like, "you got to be
kidding me."

Like, "there's no way."

I got out of the car

And saw that
the rear driver's-side tire

Was completely flat,

Completely flat.

I was scared.
I was scared.

So I'm in the kitchen,

Waiting for roadside assistance,

And I hear...

This loud banging
coming from the door

That leads to my garage...

Which means that somebody
has come into my garage

Through the open garage door

And is now banging
on the door to my house.

And in my head, I really,
really, really thought,

"this is it.

"the person is here
to k*ll me now.

"that's why they flattened
my tire.

They're here to k*ll me now."

- My heart dropped
into my stomach.

Somebody has come into my garage

And is now banging
on the door to my house.

So I just shouted

In sort of the most aggressive
voice I could muster...

"what do you want?"

He said, "are you okay?

You have a flat tire.
Do you need help?"

And I said, "I absolutely
don't need your help.

You can go away."

And he said,
"well, I'm just working

"on the house over there.

If you need some help,
let me know."

And that was one of truly

The most terrifying moments
of my life.

So I get my car
into the dealership

To get the tire looked at.

The man at the dealership,
he showed me

What were essentially
six or eight stab wounds

Right in the tread of the tire.

It was becoming clear to me

That someone was deliberately
doing these things to me,

And it felt like
it was escalating.

And this particular tire
being stabbed

Felt very angry,
and it made me afraid.

It's a little bit like wearing
your central nervous system

On the outside of your body.

Everything made me jump.

It's a hypervigilance

That's, frankly, exhausting
to live with.

My second husband
and I had decided

We would go to the police
after work.

And my daughter's father
was coming

To take her out to dinner

So that she could have
a nice evening.

And my daughter comes running
into the kitchen

And says, "mom, mom,
we got a christmas card.

Can I open it?"

And I said,
"sweetie, just put it down.

You can open it
when you get home."

So she was already
sort of off, like, excited

To be with her dad.

So they left the house,

And quiet descends again.

And I'm left alone with my
second husband and thinking

About this miserable task
of going to the police.

So I kind of absent-mindedly
opened the card,

And someone had printed

And pasted into this card
a note,

And the note read,

"dear blondie in the black car,

"you are a dirty, filthy wh*re.

"I watched you.
I've seen you with him.

"don't touch him.
He's mine.

You're a filthy wh*re.
Merry christmas."

My second husband was there,
saying, "what? What is it?

What is it?"

He read it, and he said,
"oh, my god.

Who would send this to you?"

I said, "I have no idea."

And my hands were shaking.

My whole body was shaking.

And I ran into the bathroom,
and I threw up.

I couldn't go
to the police that night.

I was way, way too upset,
and I didn't...

I didn't want
to show up looking frantic.

My daughter came home,

And I told her father
what had happened,

And I said that I wanted her
to stay with him

For a few days
while I sorted this out.

And he agreed.

At this point, I felt like
I couldn't keep her safe

In my home.

And, clearly,
this person was angry

And escalating,

And I didn't want my daughter
anywhere near it.

And it was the next morning
that I decided

I would go
to the police by myself.

I was incredibly nervous.

I was relieved that
the detective was a woman.

I was so relieved

To be finally saying it
all out loud

To somebody who could maybe do
something about it to help me.

- So I think the most important
feeling I want any victim

Coming to the police department
and meeting with me

Is to know that they're
gonna be believed.

So, in this case,
obviously, we wanted

To know
who the suspects might be.

I spoke with courtney
about her first husband

And then the second husband.

She absolutely assured me
that there was no way possible

That they would ever be capable

Of committing
this type of crime.

She had mentioned
a security guard

At her place of employment,

But we had no idea who was,

In this very quiet part of town,

Committing such a horrific act.

- And then she told me
she wanted to do a stakeout

At my house
to see if they could catch

The person in the act.

- We used courtney as bait.

We wanted courtney to have

A normal evening
in her own home.

And we were inside the home.

We had officers
outside the home,

And we were just waiting.

- Which was a very surreal thing

To have two armed detectives
in my bedroom,

But she wanted
that it would look like

Everything was normal.

If he was going
to show his face that night,

They were going to catch him.

- That night nothing happened.

There was no
suspicious behavior whatsoever.

- Things sort of started
to actually settle down

After the stakeout.

But detective kerry never,
ever, ever moved on.

- We had obtained
thermal-imaging devices,

And our patrol officers

Throughout the night
on the midnight shift

Were monitoring her home,
even unbeknownst to courtney.

We had set up surveillance
cameras in courtney's woods,

In the wooded area
around her home.

- She was gonna get
to the bottom of it,

And she said the evidence
that they collected...

They took
the remaining beer can.

They took the card, the
cigarette butts, everything.

She said, "we'll send this out
for fingerprints.

We'll send it out for dna."

So now it's January,

And I heard from detective kerry

That they had actually found
fingerprints on the card.

- I was notified by the lab
that they had found

A palm print
on the inside of the card.

From there, I needed to identify

Whoever it was that may have had

Innocent and legitimate
contact with the card.

- So my daughter and I went in
and had prints taken.

And my second husband
also agreed to go in

And have his fingerprints taken.

Detective kerry said,
"we got a match,

"specifically on the palm print
over the glue spot

On the paper in the card."

And I said,
"okay, who is it?"

- The lab was able to confirm
that the palm print...

Belonged to her husband.

- And I just cried.

I just sat when I cried,
and I couldn't

Wrap my head around it.

I couldn't wrap my head
around how this man

That I entrusted with my child

Had been pursuing us
so relentlessly

And with so much malice
and for so long.

I mean, like, the acorns,
the baseball,

Missing clothing,
jewelry, and the wine,

The beer cans
and the card and the tires.

And watching what it was
doing to me,

Watching what it was doing
to my daughter,

Watching my sanity deteriorate,

And just continuing
to put the pressure on...

I just... I couldn't believe it.

I still can't believe it.

- I was curious as to why
he had done this to his wife,

And he told me
that he wanted to scare her

So that he could be the hero.

He got what he wanted
for a period of time.

In 2019, courtney's husband
pled guilty

To misdemeanor crimes
of threatening

And reckless endangerment.

- There's not a part of your
life that this doesn't affect.

With that said, my daughter...

She's doing great in school now.

I got another really intense job

That I'm doing quite well at.

But we're still
healing from this.

- My heart's racing.
The door swings open.

- My name's davis wahlman.

In the summer of 2016,
I'm 25 years old.

I'm living in the house
I grew up in

In green lake, seattle.

I was working
at the local tv station

As a promotions producer.

As a promotions producer,
I'm helping in the newsroom,

Doing teases for new shows
and that sort of thing.

- I met davis a few years ago
when he started working

At the same station
that I currently work at.

He's a positive presence
in the newsroom.

So he was someone
who quickly went

From just being
a co-worker to being a friend.

- So, when I come home
late at night from work,

I am the only one
in this big house.

- The area where we live

Is real close to downtown.

- I like to call green lake
the central park of seattle

Because it's such
a great place...

Beautiful scenery,
beautiful landscapes,

And just
wonderful neighborhoods.

- Our home was
built in the early 1920s.

- It's a house
that has a lot of history.

My grandparents lived there.

My parents have lived there.
I've lived there.

- If you were to enter
the house through the garage,

You come into the basement.

There's a bathroom
and two bedrooms and a pantry.

- As you go up the stairs
and you take a right,

There's two bedrooms.

I'm in the bedroom
to the far right,

Which is sort of
in the corner of the house,

Which is directly underneath
the attic

That is accessed by the study.

- We raised six children
in that house.

With six kids,
it was always busy,

And so there's lots of laundry.

So there's always
loose change in the pockets.

And so I just
started putting it in a jar

And called it
my laundry tip jar.

- As the youngest of six,
I'm the baby.

So my three older brothers,
they picked on me a little bit,

But I still love them
very dearly.

So, summer of 2016,

My parents are
at our vacation home.

So it's just me
living in this big house.

Sunday night I get home
and prepare to watch some tv.

I go upstairs,

And there's a light on
in the master bedroom

Where my parents
normally would sleep.

It struck me as odd
but not out of the ordinary.

My first thought is,
"one of my family members

Came home and probably
left the light on."

I turn off the lights.
I go downstairs.

I watch some tv...

And then I go to bed,

And I don't think
anything of it.

The next day I wake up.

I go to work around 2:00 p.M.

Nothing is on my mind
except going to work.

It's 10:30 at night.

After a long Monday of work,
I'm pretty ready to go to bed

By the time
I pull in the driveway.

I opened the door
from the garage.

I go into the house.

I look to my left...

And there's a light on
in the pantry.

I did not leave that light on.

There's a couple emotions
immediately invoked,

None of which are fear.

There's annoyance
that this has happened twice.

I turn off the pantry light
and go upstairs.

As I get up to the third floor,

The master bedroom light
is left on again,

Just like it was
the night before.

What's going on here?

Could my brothers have left
the lights on?

Probably not.

If they were gonna
prank me like that,

They would have done something
a little more extreme,

Like left a dummy in a chair
or something along those lines.

This is starting
to get unnerving.

My first thought is,

"I better call mom
because she knows everything."

- He says, "I came home,

And the light was on
in the pantry."

And I said, "yeah.

Dad was home today, davis."

So then he said,
"well, then, mom,

"I went upstairs,

And I saw that the light
was on in your bedroom."

I go, "well, I'm sure
dad was up there, too.

"you know dad doesn't remember
to turn the lights off

All the time."

- I turn the light off
in the master bedroom.

I'm doing sort of an informal
survey of the house.

I look around...
I come to the bathroom

Across from my bedroom,

And a window has been left open.

I did not leave
that window open.

- So, when davis told me
about the window,

I said, "dad would not have
opened the window."

I said, "are you sure
you didn't leave it open?"

He said, "no, I did not open
the window."

I said, "okay."

At this point, I'm uneasy
about the situation.

But I have no explanation,

And I don't know what to do,
so I went to sleep.

- So the lights were on.
There's a bathroom window open.

I'm suspicious.
I'm a little surprised.

But I'm not
completely hysterical.

So, at that point,
I go to sleep,

Didn't think anything else.

The next morning

It sounds like
someone is in my attic.

My first thought is...
I'm thinking,

My mother came home
very early and didn't tell me

She was coming home super early.

I get out of bed.

I walk down the hall
toward the study,

Where I know
the entrance to the attic is.

The door is locked
from the inside.

I knock on the door.
I say...

"mom, you in there? Hello?"

The noises stop, and I don't
hear my mom answer.

And at this point, I know
this is an emergency situation.

I go back to my room,
grab my cell phone,

And I cue up 911,
but I don't press call.

I got to try this one more time
just to make absolutely sure

That my mom is not in there

Or someone I know
before I hit call.

My heart's racing.

I knock on the door
one last time.

Almost as soon as I knock...

The door swings open,

And I'm face-to-face
with a woman...

Who I've never seen before
in my life.

I don't know who she is,
or why she's in my house.

Now I dial 911.

Immediately when I hear
"911 emergency,"

I haven't said
a word to the woman

Who's directly
in front of my face.

So, at this point,

I'm about to have
two conversations at once...

Both with 911
and this strange woman.

I'm trying to give 911
the pertinent information

So they can respond quickly.

But I'm also trying
to understand

Who this person is
in front of me.

So I'm trying
to ask her questions.

I want to know who she is,
why she's in the house,

How she got into the house.

She tells me her name is sarah.

From my experience in news,

I just need to delay her
for 90 seconds

Because then
the police will arrive.

As I'm talking to 911,
I'm feeling a ton of emotions.

I'm feeling frightened, scared,

But, honestly, kind of annoyed.

Sarah, this woman, starts
coming to me and saying,

"who are you?
This is not your house.

"this is jimmy's house.

Jimmy said I could stay here."

I've got a big family,
but there are no jimmys.

Who the hell is jimmy?

I ask her,
"how long have you been here?"

She says, "I've been here
for three days.

Jimmy said I could stay here."

She could have been lurking
just over my head

For a month, for all I know.

At that point, all of a sudden,

She starts calling for jimmy.

That immediately gets me
thinking,

"there's likely
a second person in the house."

That's when my emotions
really blow wide open.

And I think,

"I'm really not alone here."

A 5'10" woman in front of me
is not immediately frightening

In the event of some
sort of physical altercation.

But if you throw
a man my size into the mix,

Then it's two on one.

That's not a situation that
I was comfortable in having.

Let's be honest...

I'm afraid
that I could be attacked,

Maybe by this woman,

Maybe by a second person
that's in the house.

I'm scared.

I don't like
the situation I'm in.

So my voice and tone
reflect that in the 911 call.

Several minutes
into the 911 call,

I'm still waiting
for those police to show up.

Every second feels
like an eternity

When you're waiting
for help to arrive,

When you're feeling
alone and scared.

So now she's sort of advancing
toward me.

I'm slowly keeping distance

But letting her back me up
down the hall.

And also,
at the same time, worried

That jimmy
might come up behind me

With a baseball bat
or a weapon or something.

And then she starts asking me,
"can I use the bathroom?

Can I use the shower?"

And I'm saying, "no."

And she says,

"let me just have a cigarette
on the porch."

And I'm thinking,
"you know what?

"I just need
a few more seconds, right?

And the cops
are going to be here."

If I can get her to sit down
with her back to me,

That's probably
a best-case scenario.

So I say, "fine, do it."

At this point,
I want to hear the police

Coming down the road.

I want to hear sirens.

But there was nothing.

So I kind of shepherd her,
walk her out to the porch,

Where I think she's gonna
sit down and have a cigarette.

I look to my right,

And I realize
the fire escape ladder

Has been thrown
over the side of the deck.

And I realize there is
a second person in the house.

And then I look back,
and she's gone.

- I'm still
on the phone with 911.

This sarah is now gone.

And the cops still aren't here.

A squad car rolls up
to my house.

I look down at my phone,

I've been on the phone
with 911 for 18 minutes,

Not 90 seconds.

And I hang up with 911.

And at this point,
I'm mostly frustrated.

When the police arrive,
I give them

The whole story
of what just happened.

They do a sweep of the house.

They go up in the attic,

But they don't find anyone
up there.

Anyone who had been
in the house was gone.

Jimmy could have escaped
down that ladder

While I was talking to sarah.

Because we didn't have
a perpetrator on hand,

They said they'd take a look
around the neighborhood.

But, ultimately, she's gone.

There's not much they could do.

I call my mom, and I tell her
what had happened.

- As I'm listening
to davis tell the story,

I'm just totally astonished,

And I start feeling terrible

Because he knew
something was off

And I discounted everything.

At the same time, davis is fine.

He's calm. He's handling the
situation, I think, very well.

He's dealt with the police.

He's already called
the locksmith.

So I felt he was

Very, very competent
in the situation.

So that did put me at ease.

- My first call
was to my parents.

My second call is
to nathan in the newsroom.

- Phone rings.
Davis is on the other end.

And it's basically,

"you're not going to believe
what just happened."

- I give nathan
the best version of the story

As I had it in my head
at that point.

- As I'm hearing the story,
I'm wondering,

"is this davis
playing a prank on me?

Or is this something
that is actually happening?"

But as he talks more about it
and he goes into the detail,

I realize this is a story.

It's gonna get people talking,

And it's gonna
get people watching.

So the reporter
is out at the house,

And davis walks her through
step by step

Exactly how this happened.

- So, for the first time in my
career, I'm on the other side

Of the news story,
which feels a little strange.

- When davis wahlman
got to his green lake home,

He noticed some lights on...

- Then the story airs,
and by the next morning,

It's already going viral.

- Then a woman opened the door
and was face-to-face with him.

- I think the reason
this story is getting

So much attention is because
it could happen to anyone.

- So I get to the house.

I go into the attic.

And I find the spot
where this woman, sarah,

Must have been camping out.

And it was right above
where davis was sleeping.

It just really bothered me

That someone could be sleeping
and living in my attic,

In my home
right above davis's room.

It's just so bizarre.

In the other attic,
I have a box of foreign coins

That I had sorted
into countries.

They had taken
the majority of the baggies

With the foreign coins
but not the entire box.

When I was going
to the laundry room,

I noticed the one thing missing

Was my laundry tip jar.

And they didn't just take
the money.

They took the whole jar.

So, to me, that's weird.

So then I start looking
at the obvious things.

Nothing that I would suspect
would be taken was gone.

It seemed odd to me
that the only items

That seemed to be missing
were the laundry tip jar

And the majority
of these old foreign coins

That probably had
very, very little value.

- This experience changed me.

Your security and your sense
of security is robbed of you.

It rattles you.

It just makes you think twice

Anytime you're in a room alone.

For about the next six months,

I slept next
to a loaded shotgun.

- I'm afraid of...

Every time I walk
in the house now,

I'm wondering if there's
somebody hiding somewhere.

- I trust my instincts
a lot more now.

And I want to believe that,

While I don't think
this will happen again,

I'm not gonna be
caught flat-footed if it does.

- To this day, I have no idea

How they got in,
why they chose our house,

Or who they were.

My son faced a phrogger,
and I'm very proud

With how he handled himself.

- You hear about phrogging.

You think it's an urban legend,
but this really happened to me.

- This is no animal... this
is something more than that.

- It was clear to me
that he was camped out there

For quite a while.

- I hear
a blood-curdling scream.

it was so up.