Surveillance Footage Shows Suspicious Man Approaching House
Posted by:
Jeffrey Hanlon
Occurred on March 8, 2018 / Howell, New Jersey, USA
Info from Licensor: "My wife was shopping while the kids were at school and drove home and pulled her car into the garage. When she pulled into the garage, she left the door open so she could unload her bags and bring them into the house. She began to bring bags into the house and went through the garage into the house. She left the door between the garage and the house open also, so she didn't have to keep opening it while carrying bags. With the door opened, my dog was able to roam freely into the garage and follow my wife back and forth into the house as she carried several bags. While getting the bags, my wife looked out the garage towards the next door neighbors house and saw a minivan parked in front of their house. Since we live at the end of a cul-de-sac with only 23 homes and a round-about half-way through, we usually know what cars belong on the street. This car looked suspicious to her. She walked into the driveway and my dog followed next to her. She held the dog because she noticed that a man wearing a hood over his head was standing behind the van with the rear van trunk open. She didn't want the man to walk up to the neighbors house and have my dog chase him. She then told my dog to stay in the driveway and she went to retrieve the garbage can at the end of the driveway so she could see the van. She then came up the driveway with the garbage can and brought my dog inside. She then sent a text message to my next door neighbor at work and just wanted to let her know that a van was parked in front of her house and he sped away pretty quickly as my wife went back into the house. I arrived home approximately 10 minutes later and my wife asked me to check the surveillance videos because of the suspicious van. I pulled up the video and saw the van pull up a few seconds after my wife pulled into our garage. I then saw him exit his vehicle and walk towards our house. I told my wife he actually came to our house, not the neighbors. She watched with me now. We saw him walk up the driveway, up the walkway, tiptoe across some snow then go towards my garage. We could see he had a hood up and a mask covering his face. He also kept his hand in his pocket the whole time. I then switched camera angles to another camera and saw the man creeping around the corner of the house and peer into the garage at my wife. My dog then looks out of the garage and he sees my dog and hears him bark and runs full speed back to his van. He then sees my wife exit the garage to look at his van and he hides behind it. He then opens the rear so it looks like the has a purpose to be behind the van. When she went back into the house he sped away. After an extensive investigation, the local police with assistance from the local FBI office were able to locate the man and arrest him. He was found to do the same thing two weeks prior to a girl who saw him following her and when she called her dad to confront him as he pulled up to her house behind him, he sped away. Police were able to determine that he followed my wife from several stores while shopping and that his intentions were armed robbery and he was in possession of a knife."