For many of us, the closest we’ll get to experiencing a stranger in our home is when a bird somehow makes it in. Even when it’s not knocking things over and pooping everywhere, that’s a hectic situation for everyone involved.
But it still doesn’t compare to the terror of discovering that what we thought was a safe, secure house had a weakness big enough to let a total stranger wander in.
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The one time this happened to my family, it was just a guy whose friends left him behind after a party. But for one North Carolina college student, the situation was much more serious.
The student, who goes by Maddie, had noticed some unexplained phenomena in her off-campus apartment.
As she told Fox8 , items would go missing that neither her nor her roommate could explain and mysterious hand prints appeared on the bathroom wall.
She said, “I’ve been having like pieces of clothes missing. Like shirts and pants.”
However, the situation became clearer on Saturday when Maddie heard a rattling that sounded like a raccoon in her closet.
She said, “I’m like who’s there? And somebody answers me. He’s like ‘oh my name is Drew.’ I open the door and he’s in there, wearing all of my clothes. My socks. My shoes. And he has a book bag full of my clothes.”
Although Maddie remains rattled by her encounter with this man, she was able to stay calm while he was there.
While she waited for help after calling her boyfriend, she kept talking to him to keep him distracted.
As she put it, “He tries on my hat. He goes in the bathroom and looks in the mirror and then is like ‘you’re really pretty, can I give you a hug?’ But he never touched me.”
Police would later identify the man as 30-year-old Andrew Swofford.
He had his first court date in connection to the incident on Monday, which turned out to be a video conference hearing from the Guilford County Jail.
However, his unexpected visit is apparently not the only thing Swofford is on the hook for.
According to Fox8, he’s being jailed under a $26,000 bond and faces 14 felony charges, which include larceny and identity theft.
One question still remains unresolved: How did Swofford get inside of Maddie’s apartment in the first place?
She said both her and her roommate always keep their doors locked and none of the locks showed any signs of damage.
Stranger still, this isn’t the first time that strangers have mysteriously appeared in her apartment.
Back in December 19th, she discovered two men in her living room. As was the usual protocol, the leasing office changed the locks, but did not file a police report.
Now that this situation has happened again, Maddie no longer feels secure in her apartment.
As she said, “Last night I did not feel safe. I slept with my roommate in her bed. I can’t stay here. My closet, it stinks. Every time I go in, there’s a bad vibe. I’m just ready to leave.”
h/t: Fox8
