Phrogging: Hider in My House (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Boy in the Wall and Man in the Closet - full transcript

[edgy music]

♪ ♪

- I felt like I was acting
like a crazy person

But then there's like a towel
set out with knives on it.

- He wanted to perform surgeries

On my wife and children.

- Things that you would see
in scary movies.

- I think that I'm on the verge

Of a complete mental breakdown.

- I saw something
that I will never forget.

- This person
had been watching us.



- Hold up. We are not alone.

[woman screams]

Wow, there's literally
a man living in your closet.

♪ ♪

- Man found hiding
between a family's walls.

- Intruder secretly living
inside her attic.

- Man slithers out
from under home.

- Make sure your crawlspaces
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.



[tense music]

- We had a phrogger
in our house.

♪ ♪

- It actually turns out
that I wasn't going crazy...

♪ ♪

But the reality of what
was happening was way worse.

[eerie notes]

[edgy music]

♪ ♪

- In 2019, I'm living
in honolulu, hawaii,

With my wife and two children.

♪ ♪

When we'd gotten to hawaii,
we were newlyweds.

We had just gotten married
in 2018.

We went and did the whole
las vegas thing

And had elvis marry us
in the pink cadillac.

It was a ton of fun.

- I've known james since
we were in high school.

We dated for a little bit
right after high school.

And then we reconnected.

James and I are kind of
a strange juxtaposition.

I do tend to be more outgoing
and bubbly

And kind of
a little bit more crazy.

James is a lot more analytical,

And he likes to really
think decisions through.

I feel like we even
each other out really well.

♪ ♪

He actually was a single father.

Had two sons.

♪ ♪

It made me feel really excited
in a lot of ways.

But at the same time,
it was really scary

Because I had just become a mom
for the first time.

I had just gotten married.
I was in a totally new place.

And then also just learning
about all my new surroundings.

It took a while for me
to find my footing.

- She had really stepped up
and become a stepmom

To my two sons.

She really became mom for them.

It was great to move to hawaii.

It was a big adjustment, but we
really liked the environment.

We brought our cat
from the mainland,

But we had just gotten a new dog

That we've purchased in hawaii.

Life was looking good.

[ominous music]

[muffled chatter]

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

- Our new neighborhood wasn't
exactly what you would think of

When you think of,
you know, living in hawaii.

It was actually very normal.

It's like something you'd see
on the mainland.

♪ ♪

The community that we lived in,

It was totally just your
typical suburban community.

- It was a safe neighborhood
in honolulu.

We lived on a cul-de-sac.
It was a two-story house.

As you walked through
the front door of the home,

Immediately in the family room,

Which had vaulted ceilings,

You could see upstairs
to the banisters.

If you walked further towards
the stairs to the right,

There was the kitchen
and a small dining room

With a sliding glass door
that went to the backyard.

As you go up the stairs,
there was a hallway

And our son's bedroom
was off to the left

And our master to the right.

There was one bathroom upstairs.

Above the bathroom,
there's a crawlspace attic.

♪ ♪

- One day I go to the garage,

And I see all of
our packed boxes in the garage,

But they were opened,

And there would be things
pulled out of them

That had previously been
packed away in the box.

- A lot of my music gear
had been shifted around.

Just really weird.

♪ ♪

- One thing that I did
almost every day

When I was getting ready,

Is I would sit
and watch makeup tutorials.

One day, I was upstairs
doing my makeup,

Watching my makeup tutorials.

[door slams]

I hear the front door
slam out of nowhere.

♪ ♪

- Even that evening,
she was hearing the door shut,

Open, and close.

- I asked james, "hey, did you
leave the door unlocked?

"like, did you remember
to lock the door

Before we went up to bed?"

- And I said,
"yes, I had just done it."

I had just come upstairs
from locking the doors

And making sure
everything was okay downstairs.

And I thought, to be honest,
that she was being paranoid.

So I was getting
a little frustrated with her.

There's no noises downstairs.
There's nothing going on.

She got frustrated with me
and went downstairs

And checked to see
if I had locked the doors.

♪ ♪

And, of course,
they're unlocked.

So we got in a little bit
of an argument about that.

♪ ♪

- I'm like, okay, like,

"why would my husband lie to me
about locking the door?

Like, why would he say
that he did when he didn't?"

Or I would think,
is one of the boys

Trying to sneak out at night?
What is going on?

And I tend to be
a very trusting person,

And it started making me feel
like I was being so paranoid

And honestly crazy.

Like, I felt like I was
acting like a crazy person

Obsessing over these
unlocked doors.

♪ ♪

- We're upstairs
and we hear the sliding door

Open and shut.
[door opens and closes]

I had thought that
the sliding door was locked.

She did have me go downstairs
in this incidence.

And I checked and
the sliding door was unlocked.

The screen had been
pulled open as well.

I continued to be skeptical
that anything could possibly

Be happening to the family
or to the home.

I thought that brittany
was maybe just on edge

About something maybe because
it was a new environment.

- James and I start
having arguments

Over the door being unlocked,
but it became an actual issue,

And it was like
this fixation for me.

- But I definitely continued
to be dismissive

Throughout these incidents.

- So at this point,
I think that I'm on the verge

Of a complete mental breakdown.

I'm just, like, "wow,
I've taken on way too much.

"the stress is completely
getting to me.

"I'm imagining things.

"I'm starting to be paranoid
about all kinds of weird stuff.

I'm just not acting
like myself at all."

♪ ♪

- One day, I was downstairs
playing piano.

♪ ♪

While I'm playing piano,

There was just a shadow
of a person...

♪ ♪

Maybe listening to me
play piano.

♪ ♪

I got up and they had
walked away.

I was a little bit
weirded out by it.

Thought it was just somebody
being nosy

Or annoyed with me
playing piano.

♪ ♪

One day, I'm just at home
with the boys,

And I look at the desk calendar

And something's
written on there.

"your rehabilitation
starts today.

"do as I did.

Choose a house. Clean it.
Set up devices."

I had no idea
what this was referring to.

I had assumed
maybe brittany had written it

And that it was just some
sort of inspirational thing,

And she wanted me
to clean the house.

I just started to clean up
a little bit around the house.

I thought that that's what
she wanted me to do.

And I'm, like,

"okay, yeah, I could probably
clean up a little bit."

♪ ♪

- One night we were going
to see a movie,

And there was a blanket that
I had that sat on the couch

That my family would use
to snuggle with

Like while we're watching
a movie.

And I thought, oh, I want
to take that blanket with me.

That'll be like super nice
to watch the movie with.

And, you know,
I go downstairs to the couch.

It's gone.
The blanket's not there.

- Brittany asked
if I was using the blanket.

I tell her no.

We asked the kids
if they had seen the blanket

Or had been using it.
They insist no.

- And I would think
that they just didn't want

To go back upstairs
to go grab the blanket.

So I'd be, like,
"okay, come on, guys.

Like, just go get it."

And they would insist,
"no, we don't have it."

- It turned into a big argument,

And it was just over
a dumb blanket.

But it was gone.

And we ended up
leaving the house.

♪ ♪

- So we come home
from the movies.

We walk through the front door,

And the blanket is there.

♪ ♪

- The blanket is put back,
folded nicely.

- And that was the first time
james admitted

That something strange
was going on.

He can't explain it either.

- Did the kids
sneak the blanket back?

It seems like a really
ridiculous thing to lie about.

Maybe they're moving
the blanket and lying about it

Because they think
they're gonna be in trouble.

- I feel relieved.
I feel vindicated.

I'm not going completely crazy.

- One night, I remember
looking at my computer

And noticing
that my webcam light was on

In the middle of the night

And me having no idea
why it would do that.

You hear about people watching
you on your webcam or whatever.

But there was no reason
for anybody to be watching me

That I could think of.

♪ ♪

- In September 2019,
brittany and the boys and I

Flew back to the mainland
to visit family

For about a week.

♪ ♪

- We end up taking
an earlier flight back.

♪ ♪

We finally land in honolulu.

We go.
We get to our car.

- Our home was not too far
from the airport,

So it took us just a short time
to get back home.

♪ ♪

- As we pull into the driveway,

I see james' really nice
road bike sitting out.

- She asks if I was riding
my bike before we left.

I tell her no.

And we noticed something
is just off.

♪ ♪

- We tell the kids
to wait in the car.

We go to the garage.

♪ ♪

- Opened up the garage,

And I saw that it had
just been completely trashed.

♪ ♪

- It looked like a bomb
had gone off.

♪ ♪

- I see boxes from when we moved

That had just been opened,
torn apart.

And there's just
all of our items

Are just thrown everywhere
and kind of into piles.

Everything's just
on top of each other.

And at that moment,
I'm thinking we got robbed.

I grabbed a sledgehammer.

♪ ♪

I'm concerned for
the safety of my family.

So I start to walk towards
the front door of the house.

♪ ♪

I slide the key in,

Unlock it,

Start to push it open,

And it's met
with some resistance.

♪ ♪

- He pushes the door
really hard.

♪ ♪

And it opens a crack.

You can see a person
inside our house.

- Who are you?
Get out of our house!

- There's a man
peeking through the door.

I'm calling 911 right now!

He's trying to hold it shut,

And the man says,
"this is not your house,"

Just very calmly.

"this is not your house.
You've got the wrong house."

And I'm just floored.

- And I'm screaming
at the person,

"let us inside our home."

And I call 911.

- She tells them,
"there's a man in our house.

We don't know who he is
or why he's here."

I start cursing
and yelling back at him,

"get out of my house."
I push the door open.

- My husband is able

To pull the person out
into the front yard.

♪ ♪

- And at this point we notice,
he's wearing my clothes.

Things are just getting crazier
by the moment.

♪ ♪

I'm telling him that
if he doesn't listen to me,

I'm taking this as a threat.

I'm trying to ask him,
"what are you doing here?"

And he's kind of
just contending,

"I just didn't have
anywhere to go."

So I'm thinking, well,
this is just a homeless guy,

And he needed a place to stay.

He's kind of a young kid.
Maybe he's on drugs.

I don't know.

I'm also thinking, I can't
bludgeon a man to death

In front of my kids.

They got out of the car.
They had to use the bathroom.

I'm telling them,
"get back in the car."

My wife is yelling.

She's concerned about our cat,
who is in the house.

- He says, "don't worry.

"I took care of your cat.
I fed him.

He's inside."

- So I'm out on the lawn
staring down this guy,

And brittany runs in
the house to check on the cat.

- The first thing that
I notice is our living room.

And it's really bizarre.

It's almost like he had it
set up like he was doing

An inventory of everything
that was in our home.

My husband has a lot
of musical equipment,

And it was all kind of
sitting out almost like

It was on display
at a garage sale.

So I go into the kitchen,
and my cat, mr. Franklin,

He's in a cage that was
for training the puppy.

He had no water.

The man had been trying
to feed him dried apricots.

I look at him,
make sure that he's okay.

♪ ♪

I go back outside.

[sirens wailing]

He was very calm.
He just kind of stood there.

♪ ♪

- As soon as the police arrived,

I just start pointing at him.

"hey, I don't know this guy.
I don't know why he's here."

- The police came over
and started talking to him,

And he just kind of started
having a casual conversation

With the police
and walked away with them.

It was really as if this person

Didn't think that he was doing
anything out of the ordinary.

- They put them in handcuffs.
He doesn't resist.

And they put him in the cop car.

At this point,
we're still in shock,

But we're thinking,

This must have just been
a robbery or a simple instance

Of a homeless guy
needing a place to stay.

Everything is just trashed.

♪ ♪

My keyboard was now sitting
on the couch for some reason.

There's pots and pans just
piled on top of each other.

- One of the things
that seemed really odd

Is the boys' bedroom.

He had actually done
all of their laundry

And made their beds,
and it was immaculate.

Like, the entire house
was in complete shambles,

But for some reason,
our boys' bedroom was...

It was almost like
a sacred space.

It was extremely neat
and tidy and pristine.

♪ ♪

In our bedroom, everything
is in a huge disarray.

But then there's like a towel
set out with knives on it.

♪ ♪

And then next to the knives,
there's our computers.

It was an old computer
that we didn't use anymore.

Something told me to, you know,
go ahead and look at it.

So I start pressing buttons,
and the screen comes on.

There's a text document
that's on the screen.

- And there are all of these
typed notes called

"the omnivore trials.

A rehabilitation
for rat like people."

- It's like a journal that
this person had been keeping.

The journal
has entries about us.

- But they're like
observations about our family.

- He has profiles about us.

There's intimate details
that he knows about us

That's written down.

- There were some things
in the writing

That detailed
some very personal information

And some things
that he could have only known

If he was listening in
on our private conversations.

- He somehow knew
that my husband and I

Were trying to have a baby.

And he wrote
that I should give up

On trying to have a baby

And focus on the children
that I have.

And nobody knew.

Like, we hadn't even told family

That we were trying
to have the baby.

This person had obviously
somehow been privy

To very private conversations.

- Now it's gone
from trashing the house

To somebody's been stalking us.

Somebody's been listening in
on our private conversations.

- And it becomes apparent to me

That this person was not
just a random person.

This person
had been watching us.

♪ ♪

- He had planned to perform
various surgeries on us.

[tense music]

- These writings were suggesting

That surgical procedures
should be performed

On my wife and my children.

♪ ♪

It mentions, like, how
he's gonna go about doing it

And drugging our family.

And we found these serums
that are labeled,

"to use on the omnivores,"
so he detailed us

As being a species
that he called omnivores.

♪ ♪

- He had looked at websites
trying to buy surgical tables.

He had looked up how
to perform specific surgeries.

- And he had been
looking up videos

On how to surgically
remove an arm.

He looked up how to do
gender reassignment surgery.

♪ ♪

- Everything that he had
written about

Wanting to do in his plans,

He had researched ways

To implement these plans
that he had.

He had actually had an agenda,
and there was a reason

That he was in our home
specifically.

So in addition to the computer
that had the notes on them,

There was my computer
that I used

That would sit
on my makeup desk.

I started looking through
that computer as well,

And I found a video file on it.

- Hey, what's going on,
everybody?

It's me.

I'm actually doing this video
to show some...

Some ways that you can change

Your outer appearance.

This is day two of the trials
that I've been working on.

This one is just called
cosmetology.

It kind of hurts a little,
but they believe beauty hurts.

♪ ♪

Anyways.

- Watching the video,

The way that he was talking
in it,

It seemed like he was talking
directly to me and mocking me,

To be honest.

He begins by drawing a line,

And it's supposed to demonstrate

Some kind of spiritual
transformation.

It was a makeup tutorial
of sorts.

- Okay, boomshakalaka.

How does it look?

- But with a really bizarre
kind of twist on it.

- I'm showing you
that you can...

Make yourself lighter.

[belches]

Excuse me.

- This guy had been
sitting naked in my chair.

That's disgusting.

- Hold on.

- I just felt terror.

That was pretty much
the only way I can describe it.

It was just a sense
of just complete terror.

A bunch of different things
kind of flooded back

To my mind.

Looking at my computer,

I'm noticing
that my webcam light was on.

My mind began to go all kinds
of places wondering,

How long was this person
watching us?

It kind of started making
a lot of things make sense.

- So all those things that
were happening... the blanket,

Unlocked doors,
noises in the house,

They all add up to making sense.

♪ ♪

The suspect was charged
with felony burglary.

And within days, he was granted
supervised release.

He's released out
into the public.

At this point,
I got really upset

Because I felt like
our family was in danger.

But it wasn't long
before he ended up

Burglarizing
the buddhist study center

And was arrested again.

And they revoked
his supervised release.

So he remains in jail during
his psychological evaluation,

And we're told he allegedly
murders his cellmate.

♪ ♪

This is an incident

That's really affected us
psychologically as a family.

It's uprooted our entire lives.
We've since moved from hawaii.

Almost every aspect of our life
has been touched by this.

♪ ♪

- Recovering from this
has been really difficult.

There's not exactly like
a support group for people

Who've been victims of
a psychopath that stalks them,

Breaks into their home,

And plots to perform surgery
on them.

- There's not even a single
part of me would have thought,

Hey, there's a guy,
maybe up in our attic,

Writing a medical manifesto
who wants to transform

My family to a species
that he called omnivores.

Who would think that?

♪ ♪

I'm absolutely grateful
that nothing serious

Physically happened to my wife
brittany and our two boys.

We're very lucky
that we came home when we did.

If it had been at nighttime,

Or if the boys had gone
into the home first,

Who knows what
could have happened?

And there were just
so many things

That could have happened
that didn't

That we're very grateful for.

- This is business.
This is serious work.

[singing cheerfully]

- It's a complete violation.

I felt like nothing
in my space was sacred

Or mine anymore.

♪ ♪

When you realize that there's
been a stranger in your home,

And not just a stranger,

But a stranger who
had sinister plans for you.

♪ ♪

[mellow hip-hop music]

- My name is madisyn gidrey.

In 2019, I'm 20 years old
and a junior in college

At the university of
north carolina at greensboro.

- ♪ yo, get me going,
get me out... ♪

- I live two minutes away
from the university

With my two roommates
destiny and ahmiyah.

- My name is ahmiyah mcbride.
- My name is destiny alford.

I knew maddie for being
my freshman college roommate.

So I would think it was good
to get my first apartment

With her since I trust her.

And then ahmiyah being
my best friend, I'm like,

"all right,
there's our third girl.

So let's go ahead
and throw her in the mix."

And that's how we got
our first apartment.

- We just did everything
together off campus.

So it became just a no-brainer

To go ahead
and start living together.

- So I was so excited
to have my own space.

And I'm excited to have my own
space with destiny and ahmiyah

'cause we are good friends.

- We are all so different
in the best of ways.

Madisyn is the risk taker.

She's brave.
She's adventurous.

She's down to do anything
you want to do.

- Ahmiyah,
very intelligent person.

And ahmiyah's more quiet
and closed in.

- I'm sort of the... the
laid-back one, the goofy one.

- Destiny is outgoing.

Destiny's the loudest out of us.

- I am like
the mother of the group.

I'm always trying to bring
my friends up, you know,

Just make their day
a little bit better.

- We got along very well.
We didn't fight.

Lots of fun and laughs with us.

[foreboding music]

- We moved in August
just before school started.

- It's a ground-floor apartment.

We stayed on
the very first floor.

- The three of us each had
our own bedrooms.

Those bedrooms also had
our own bathroom.

So we found that to be amazing.

- When I initially moved in,
I felt safe at the time.

But then I noticed
on the weekend nights,

So many people on the streets,
you know, going to the bars

And going out to the nightclubs.

I'm, like, "all right,

That's a little
too much traffic going on."

- There were a lot of
homeless people at the church

Across the street from
the apartment that we lived in.

A lot of them did sleep
on the church steps.

- We had homeless people
at the gas stations

Where all the cops were at,
you know, chillin'.

♪ ♪

- Madisyn was a bit
of a fashionista.

I love madisyn's style.

- I do a lot of shopping.
I have tons of clothes.

- She has like every pair of
sneakers in the world almost.

She'd have her jeans
in a certain section,

All her dresses beautifully
hung up in the middle.

She'll have tennis shoes
to match her dresses.

- I'm very organized,
so it's very easy

For me to notice if anything
is out of place in the room.

♪ ♪

So one day
I'm looking for a t-shirt,

And it's not there,
I can't find it.

I'm thinking it could have
got lost in laundry.

We are three girls all doing
our laundry in the same room.

So I'm thinking, like,

"oh, maybe they picked it
out of my laundry."

After that,
I'm looking for socks.

I can't find any socks.

Also, I was looking for work
clothes, couldn't find them.

And I had went
to go redo my hair,

And I realized
I was missing a brush

That I use, like, all the time.

So I'm, like,
"why is this brush missing

When I use it
almost every day?"

And I always buy like,
a 100-pack of bobby pins.

I would be missing
a chunk of them at a time.

I reached a point where
I was missing a lot of items.

So we just met together
in the living room.

I was like,

"hey, have you guys
had any of my clothes

Or maybe have
a t-shirt of mine?"

And they both said no.

- I know ahmiyah's
not taking it,

And I know I'm not taking it,
so this is very weird.

- And destiny told me that she
was missing some items too.

So where did everything go?

- Now as to my stuff...
[chuckles]

Missing a crop top
and, you know, a hairbrush

Here and there,
I don't think much of it.

Those kind of things
are about 5 bucks.

I was like, "okay,
I'll just replace that."

So I didn't think much of that.

♪ ♪

- The three of us
are in destiny's room

Which is located
at the front of the apartment.

♪ ♪

- We're just sitting there
watching a movie.

My phone rings.
[cell phone trills]

- Madisyn picks up her phone.
It's a phone call from me.

[cell phone trilling]

- And it's ahmiyah, but she's
sitting right next to me.

So I'm confused.
Who's calling me?

And I'm like,
"where's your phone?"

- I didn't have my phone on me.

I actually left it
in the room on the bed.

- Hold up.
Her phone is in her room.

Who's in the room?

[women scream]

We all jumped on my bed,
like, really, really scared.

Like, we had blankets over us,
like, "oh, my gosh.

What is going on?"

I sat up out of my bed.

And I'm, like, "hold up, y'all.

"my room is right here
by the front door.

"we would have heard
if somebody would have went

Through the door,
but we ain't hear nothing."

- Who's calling me?
And who has ahmiyah's phone?

We're all thinking
someone's in her room.

- So this freaks us out
even more.

[laughs]

And now we're thinking of plans
of getting out of this room.

All right, we're gonna
jump out a window,

Or we're gonna grab something

And just hit this person
upside they head.

And I'm sitting here, like,

"what's about to happen
after that?

"like, we're gonna have
somebody bleeding out

In our living room, y'all.
What we're gonna do about it?"

- We wanted to call the police.

We wanted to scream
until someone else heard us.

We wanted to go outside
and be brave.

And we decided that we would
have to fight this,

Whatever it could be.

[suspenseful music]

- So we ended up just
picking stuff up in the room

That we maybe could use
as a weapon.

I ended up picking just
a hard elephant statue,

Lifted it up in my hand.

- We were all just standing
at the door, like,

"all right, y'all, on three.
One, two, three."

And we bust out of the room.

- I don't know what to believe.
So confused.

[tense music]

- Opened the door really quick

And just looked down
the hallway.

But there was no one there.

♪ ♪

- We immediately go
to ahmiyah's room.

- And I went in and noticed
that my closet door was open.

Normally for me,
I have to close things.

- And then that's when
we discovered her phone

In the closet

When she said that was not
where she had it at.

So at this moment,
I'm for real freaked out.

- Something was going on
in the house

That we didn't understand.

We thought it could have
been a ghost potentially.

We thought
it could have been this

Supernatural being
coming to mess with us.

So we didn't know specifically
what we were dealing with

And we didn't know
if it was severe enough

To get law enforcement involved.

♪ ♪

- I come home thanksgiving break

Just to settle in and unpack

Before I have to work
in the morning.

And I go to use the shower,

But it looks like
the water had ran up.

And it was super dirty.

So I go in the shower
and kind of see, like,

A ring around the tub
of, like, dirt.

- It was really, really dirty.

Almost looked like
somebody, like,

Rinsed off they feet
from running on the ground.

- I'm, like,
that's unusual because

My tub is normally clean.

- And then there was
a long piece of hair.

It's a blonde hair.
It's not ours.

- It was heartbreaking
because we knew at that point,

It had to be someone
or something.

It was definitely creepy.

♪ ♪

- The next day as I'm looking
in the mirror,

I saw something
that I will never forget.

[ominous music]

So I call destiny and ahmiyah
into the room.

- It's a giant man's handprint
on the mirror.

♪ ♪

- I just kept going back
to the ghost, honestly.

It was a way of not
being as scared because,

"oh, we can just blame it
on the ghost

That lives with us
in this apartment."

- And we're all just like
jokingly saying

The ghost is messing with us.
- Girl, it might be.

If we have a ghost,
I know what to do.

- Destiny decided that

She would purify
our apartment by burning sage.

- I said, "ladies,
open up y'all bedroom doors.

I got you."

I lit up the white sage.

And then I saw the smoke,
just the thick smoke,

Coming up from the sage,

Reading psalm 23 as loud
as I can from the bible,

Banishing whatever
was bothering us,

To have a fresh start.

♪ ♪

- One day,
I'm at the apartment alone,

And I heard some chatter
suddenly.

I sent a text message
to destiny.

And I asked her,
"are you expecting anyone?"

- Uh, there shouldn't be
anybody home but you, ahmiyah.

So what's going on?

- I'm hearing whispers on
the other side of the door.

I couldn't make out
what they were saying,

But I knew that they were
definitely male voices.

It had to be
more than one person.

Destiny texted madisyn
and asked her,

"is there anyone
you're expecting?"

- I'm like, "well, I know
for sure I've been at work.

"I know I locked the door
when I left for work.

And I know my boyfriend
is not at my house."

♪ ♪

- By the time I called ahmiyah,

She tells me
that the guys are gone.

And then she said
the door is unlocked

When the door was locked.

- I was terrified.

I was nervous to be home alone.

I wanted to always be
in maddie or destiny's room.

♪ ♪

Who's to say that it wasn't
something supernatural?

It was beyond something
we can understand,

So we didn't know
what course of action to take.

I decided that it would
be best for me to go home,

Back to my hometown,
so that's what I did.

Destiny and madisyn
still stayed at the apartment.

- When ahmiyah left,
I was really, really sad

'cause that was my best friend.

We have some good moments
in that apartment.

[somber music]

I don't know what's going on,
but it's not good at all.

We are not alone.

♪ ♪

- Early February, one day
I had to work, so I figured

I'd take a lunch break
in between and go home.

But when I came in,
the door was locked.

So I unlocked the door,
put my phone in the kitchen,

Walked to my room
to use the restroom.

I'm in the bathroom, and I hear
a lot of noise and ruckus

Coming from my closet
on the other side of the wall.

Somebody was snatching
clothes off of the hangers.

Something is in my closet.
I am super, super scared.

[hangers rattling,
clothes shuffling]

- I'm freaking out.

My heart is pumping

When I realize it has
to be someone in my closet.

At this point, my phone
is still in the kitchen

From where I dropped it

When I first
came into the apartment.

So next,
I put my hand on the door

Because I'm thinking I'm just
gonna bust the door open.

But I realized
I had a smartwatch,

And I should probably
try to call the police

Before I even open the door.

Of course, I couldn't get
the watch to work to call.

And at this point,

I just feel, like, pressure
pushing against the door.

They might get me
before I can get to them.

The door opens,

And I see a man
in all my clothes.

First thing I ask him,
"is who are you,

And why are you in my closet?"

He told me his name was drew

And him and his friends
raid closets to get clothes.

♪ ♪

So I'm kind of watching him
as I run and get my phone

To snatch it up
and come back to the room.

I don't call the police because
I don't want him to hear me

And try to attack me.

I end up just taking
a quick picture...

♪ ♪

And sending it to my good
guy friend and telling him,

"hey, come over.

I just found a man
in my closet."

♪ ♪

He texts me back,
"I'm on the way."

And after that,
we just sat and we talked.

He says his mom abandoned him
and thought that he was ugly.

Then he starts asking me,
do I think he's pretty?

Or do I like his hair?

He did ask me if we can hug,

And I broke that off very quick.

Absolutely not.

So we talked
for around ten minutes

Before my guy friend shows up.

His demeanor was more like
he was scared of me,

Rather than me being
scared of him.

I just felt really bad for him.

I was like,
"just don't bother me anymore."

So then we let him go
and he leaves.

♪ ♪

He goes in that gas station
that's in front of my complex,

And the cops are already
kind of just hanging outside.

I tell the cops, "hey, that guy
that's in the bathroom

"was just in my closet
when I came home.

He was pretty much robbing me."

So they end up arresting him

And taking me back to my house
so they can see the evidence.

They realize my closet
has indeed been ran through.

Some of the stuff
that he had dropped

Had also been in the house.

- Maddie's bravery is just
like, "this is my house,

"and I'm going to find out
who's in my closet

Wearing my things."

So it's just like she took
charge of that situation.

- Maintenance comes the next day

Just to check out what happened.

They check this window

That the blinds
were always up and shut.

And it was a recliner
right in front of the window.

And we realized, as we look
outside of the window,

My brush, my hair stuff,

Hair ties,
were outside of the window.

So that's how he was coming
in and out.

We later found out that
his name was andrew swofford,

And he was 30 years old.

He pleads guilty
for breaking and entering

And gets sentenced
to 79 days in jail.

- When I first saw the picture
of drew in the closet,

I was very creeped out.
Wow.

There's literally a man
living in your closet.

We have to move.
We have to move asap.

We're not staying there.

- The following week,
I moved out,

And I've never been back.

After this, we've gotten
much closer together

Than we were before just 'cause

We experienced something crazy
with each other

And we really know
we have each other's backs.

If I could do it all over again,

Not that I want to,

I would call the cops
as soon as I saw him.

♪ ♪

I would have never believed

That I had a phrogger
in my house.

♪ ♪

- I look up, and the crawl
space door is open.

[woman screams]

Something is opening
and closing the cabinet.

These eyes are familiar.

Someone is waving at us.

I'm standing face to face
with this thing.

♪ ♪

- Someone is in my house.

♪ ♪