Image Credit: Shutterstock

"SHE IS TRAUMATIZED. SHE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT."

LAKE COUNTRY – It was the middle of the day when a 13-year-old Lake Country girl who was home alone heard the family dogs start barking. She went to the window to see who was outside.

In the driveway was an old, four-door, burgundy car she didn’t recognize and a stocky, bald man with tattoos on both sides of his neck was walking up to the front door. It was a professional development day at school and both her parents and brother were at work. The girl ran to the door to make sure it was locked.

The tattooed man rang the doorbell, but when no one answered he didn’t leave. He went around to another door at the side of the house.

The girl’s mother, who doesn’t want her name used to protect her family, says what happened next terrified her daughter so much she will likely need counselling.

“When she saw him coming around, she locked the door and ran to the bathroom,” the mother says. “He busted open the screen door and used his shoulder to break open the door.”

The terrified girl called the police from the bathroom where she was hiding.

She heard the man go straight to the same bedroom where moments before she was eating lunch and watching TV.

“It’s a good thing our dogs warned her or she would have been in that bedroom,” her mom says.

The man was only inside for around five minutes but he managed to steal some jewelry and a TV before he noticed a bowl of food in the bedroom and a glass with ice still in it.

“At some point he figured out that someone was in the house,” she says. “She was 15 feet away from him.”

The man left the house and got in the car, where a woman in her 20s was waiting. The pair drove away before police arrived.

“She is traumatized,” her mom says. “She doesn’t want to talk about it. She is afraid to go back in that bathroom. She is pretty shook up so we’re going to be hooking up with Victim Services and get her some counselling.”

There appears to be a rise in these types of crimes in Lake Country over the past couple years and residents have even set up a crime prevention group that meets regularly to discuss the issue. Earlier this month Lake Country RCMP issued a warning that break and enters were on the rise and residents should be 'extra vigilent.'

Const. Jesse O'Donaghey confirmed RCMP responded to the home just before noon on May 24 and the investigation is going "quite well." He asks that anyone with information call Lake Country RCMP at 250-766-2288. Remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, leaving a tip online or texting to CRIMES (274637) ktown.

The suspect is described as a Caucasian man in his 30s or 40s with tattoos of two skulls on the right side of his neck, and a black and grey striped tattoo on the left side of his neck. He was wearing a black shirt, black hoodie and two-toned blue and black jeans. The woman was also Caucasian with long dark hair past her shoulders.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw or call 250-718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2016