Another Metro Vancouver woman has come forward with a frightening story of being followed by a strange man.
Melody Johnson told Global News she entered Burnaby Lake Regional Park on Wednesday when she passed a man on the trail who gave her an uncomfortable feeling.
“A couple of minutes later I realized he had turned around and was walking behind me. I tried to evade him, I stopped and tied my shoe and let him pass me, and he ended up behind me again somehow,” Johnson said.
“That happened three times. I phoned my mom and my sister on video chat, and was talking to them and at one point my sister was like he’s behind you, you need to walk faster now. That was really scary.”
Johnson said she Facetimed her mother and sister for safety, and kept walking until she ran into another woman going the opposite way on the trail.
She explained the situation, and the woman agreed to walk her to one of the park exits.
“I felt a lot of relief at that moment, I almost started crying, I’m not going to lie,” she said.
Along the way, the pair ran into another woman who was walking into the area where the man was, warned her, and also walked her to the exit.
At the park gate, Johnson called police. By the time RCMP officers arrived the man had left, but not before one of other women got a photo of him from behind.
Johnson didn’t get a clear look at the man on the trail, either.
“Every time I had an opportunity to look at his face he turned his face away, and he had his hood up so his face was shadowed,” she said.
The incident comes a week after a Vancouver woman was followed by a strange man for more than half an hour on the edge of downtown Vancouver.
There was no immediate indication whether the two incidents were related, but police continue to investigate both cases.
Johnson saw media coverage of the Vancouver incident, which she said contributed both to her awareness of the man following her — and her desire to speak out.
“That’s exactly why I shared it, to help other women, so the same thing doesn’t happen to them,” she said.
“Because it definitely could have ended a lot differently for me and I’m grateful that it didn’t.”