Two Toronto women are urging others to keep their doors locked and be aware of their surroundings after an unknown suspect allegedly broke into their home and remained there for hours.
Toronto police said on Aug. 29, officers received a report of a break and enter in the Avenue Road and Chaplin Crescent area.
Taylor Ross told Global News she was celebrating her birthday at the home she shares with her mother and sister when the incident occurred.
Ross said she had a few friends over who were coming and going throughout the night.
According to Ross, just after midnight, she went upstairs to change into pyjamas when she saw a “shadow” on her bed, next to one of her dogs.
Ross said the door was slightly ajar, and the lights were off.
“I saw a figure move from my bed where my dog was sitting as well, to then behind my door,” she explained.
Ross said she ran downstairs, asking her friends and family to call 9-1-1.
“And then we kind of started the hunt to go find him,” she said, adding that the suspect went further into the house.
“I asked him kindly to leave to get out of the house (saying) ‘you’re not welcome here'” and he did not listen,” Ross said.
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Ross said this was “quite scary,” adding that the man was “very silent and quiet.”
“My friends didn’t believe me at first, you would never think that somebody would be in the house,” she said. “And we were home the entire evening having dinner.”
Ross said she and her friends looked for the man for about 10 minutes, before ultimately locating him in a storage room behind a clothing rack.
Scared that the man could be armed, Ross said she and her friends ran back downstairs and waited for police.
“We ran back downstairs, went to the back room and we actually saw him then go through my mom’s bedroom window onto the addition that we have on the house, and you could see through the skylight scramble and then eventually jump onto the neighbour’s garage,” she said.
Police are now searching for a man between 35 and 40 years old, standing five-feet-10-inches tall. He has a thin build and dark hair. He was seen wearing a grey hoodie and shorts.
Ross said they believe the man broke into the house at around 9:30 p.m., while she and her friends were eating dinner in the backyard. The family believes the man was was allegedly inside their home for hours before he was discovered.
“One of my friends had left around that time, and so that it makes most sense that he would have came in after my friend had left, we were still outside for another 40 minutes,” she said. “Then we came inside and sat down in the living room, which you can see the front door.”
Ross’ mother Brenda Rathbone, told Global News she was washing dishes when her daughter began screaming that someone was in the house.
After the women found the man in the storage room, Rathbone said she and her other daughter ran across the street to an ambulance station for help, while calling 9-1-1.
“Within two seconds undercover surveillance police are banging into our house barging upstairs,” she said, adding that the man got away.
“Within minutes, the canine unit came and tracked them up the street to some apartment buildings to an underground parking lot, and they lost the track,” she continued.
Ross said the incident was “very scary.”
“It definitely made my heart skip a beat,” she said, recalling what it was like to see a stranger in her room. “It was very, very frightening.”
Rathbone said Ross hasn’t been staying at the house since the incident occurred.
“But my other daughter and I have been — we’re staying here and it’s pretty scary. We’re terrified,” she said. “It’s been just under two weeks and it’s scary to think that someone scouted us out, someone’s been watching us, someone knows that three women live in this house.”
Rathbone said she is surprised the family’s dogs — two Chinese Shar-Peis — didn’t bark or react to the suspect.
“When Taylor saw him on her bed, petting him — that is not like our dogs, no one is allowed to touch our dogs, they just bark,” she said. “That confuses me.”
Ross said the family has increased security at the home, including adding more motion sensors and cameras. They are also being more vigilant about locking their doors.
“I think the message out there would be like, always be aware of your surroundings, and you can’t rely also on your animals to protect you, keep your doors closed, and just be super aware,” she said.
“I thought I was pretty conscious of when my doors were open and closed, however, these people, if they want to get in, they will get in, so just keep your doors locked and be cautious.”
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