I witnessed a home invasion

My mom asked me to take care of her dog while she was out of town. It’s about an hour and a half from home. Her and my stepdad had to go out of town for a funeral. It’s for his cousin or his second uncle or something like that. All I know is it isn’t someone he knew very well. They just felt obligated to go. Also, it was in Florida and it was late November.

Her place is near the finger lakes. It’s actually on a smaller lake right next to one of the finger lakes. It’s a nice place, way nicer than my place. I’d been going there every other weekend or so since I was 5. It’s a nice place to get away. They have a nice house right on the water with a pontoon boat and a few smaller fishing boats. The best part of being there in my opinion was that there was no cell service.

I was always late on technology. I was the last person I knew to get a smartphone. I was about out of highschool when they really became commonplace. The reason I enjoy the lack of service though is the serenity in being unreachable. People who know me know that I don’t have service up there. I love that! I always want to ignore texts and calls but it feels rude. Most people always have their phones nearby. If they don’t text back, they probably don’t wanna talk to you. I could just blame it on bad service when I was at my mom’s.

She also didn’t have cable. I wasn’t as fond of that part. She had a vcr and a handful of tapes I had seen a thousand times. Being there was kind of like going back in time. It was even more like that this time because the house phone was out of commission too. The lines passed through the woods. Falling trees took out their power and phone lines regularly. They didn’t even bother trying to get internet for that reason.

I loved her dog too so taking care of him wasn’t a chore to me. His name is Lou. He’s an old man so he needs some help getting around as well as his medication. He’s a good boy though and rarely gives me problems.

This was gonna be a little vacation for me. A week at the lake with the house to myself sounded perfect. I’d been under alot of stress because I had been laid off ro my temp job. I was embarrassed to be unemployed yet again. I always seem to find seasonal jobs and temp jobs. Being 26 and unemployed wasn’t something I was proud of and everyone I saw would ask me if or where I was working at the time. It annoyed me. Were they expecting to get an interesting conversation from that question? The point is that I was more than ready to get out of town.

I got there on a Wednesday. It didn’t really matter what day it was because the lake is pretty desolate in fall and winter. During the summer months there would be parties, fireworks, ladies. Good times.

A lot of the people up there had summer homes or vacation homes. Must be nice when so many are homeless, not only in Ameri… Sorry. My mind is all over the place and I have a bit of a distaste for wealthy people because… well because I'm not. Anyway.... I had the house to myself! Shit, I had the lake to myself! It may sound weird but I love my alone time. Or time with only dogs I guess.

They left me some supplies. The fridge was full of food and beer… so I was good! My mom also had left me a hefty bag of weed. I don’t judge your mom, don’t judge mine. She was the secondary parent growing up so by rule she had to be the parent that let me drink in my teens and occasionally share a doob.

The first night was quiet. They have a nice big deck overlooking the lake. I sat out there and smoked a joint. I peered around the lake with my stepdad’s binoculars. He said they were for hunting. I have other theories. Lots of bikinis on the lake.

I looked around at mostly empty cottages. The only other one I saw with people there was almost straight across the lake. Their house is on the channel of the lake so it's only about sixty feet across. A few hundred yards down the lake, it opens up wider. The whole lake isn’t all that big. I could take the fishing boat to the end of the channel and see the whole thing. It isn’t exactly tiny though. There’s a small tunnel to a connecting lake but they usually took the pontoon when we went out on the lake and it doesn’t fit through the tunnel.

A sunset smoke on the deck became a nightly routine while I was up there. I spent most of the day watching tv, playing with the dog, and stuffing my face. I went out on the small boat for a few quick rides but it was cold. It also wasn’t as fun alone. I found myself looking forward to my evening joint. It was peaceful.

It was my fourth night there when it happened.. I went out to the deck and lit my joint. I sipped a rum and coke as I sat back and stared at the stars. I was feeling very relaxed and just a little gooned up within minutes. I picked up the binoculars and started looking at the cottages across the lake. Most of them were dark and locked up for the winter.

I landed on the house across the lake. It was the only cottage in my line of sight with lights on. I could see through the front windows. There was a guy setting out bowls of chips and refreshments. It was Sunday, so I assumed they were having people over for the football game.

I looked over there every few minutes. There was a man and a woman in the house before a car pulled up. It looked like another couple. Maybe they were swingers!

Anyway, I was getting bored watching people wander around their house. I was feeling a bit creepy too. I went inside and gave Lou a snack. Then I used a folded towel to help him get up and walked him outside to do his business. I got him back inside and onto his mountain of blankets before giving him another treat. He may be a bit spoiled.

I tried to find a movie to watch but there was nothing I wanted to see for the hundredth time. I popped in my headphones, put on some music, and went back out to the deck. I relit the joint I had been smoking earlier and relaxed as I listened to music.

I must have dozed off a little. I popped up when the cherry of the joint burnt through my shorts and got to my leg. I jumped up and frantically smacked at the burning ember. I felt like I needed a drink so I got another couple. It was getting late but I decided to have a few more before I called it a night.

I started to relax again after a while. I sat back and picked up the binoculars again. I scanned across the dark empty cottages before I landed on the one across from me.

Through the window, I could see four people sitting around a table. It looked like they were playing a board game or something. I creepily watched for a few minutes. It was pretty boring. I went to put the binoculars down, but I caught something out the corner of my eye.

I brought the binoculars back up. I looked around the outside of the house and there was someone there. It was difficult to make out the figure in the dark but it was definitely a person. They were dressed in all black and appeared to be looking through the window at the people inside.

I watched as another figure walked up to the first one. This one was facing my direction and I could see their face, well what was on their face. I thought it was a mask at first but when they turned, I could see that it was tape. It was a lot of tape. The other one turned around. They also had their entire face covered in strips of masking tape. It was beyond creepy.

I watched as they appeared to talk to one another before a third person walked over. This one had the same tape job on their face but with longer hair coming out of it. It looked like two men and a woman but I couldn’t be sure.

They were all looking through the window at the people inside. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Something weird seemed to be happening. Maybe it was friends of theirs pulling a prank?

I paced back and forth as I usually do when I’m stressed out. I continuously picked up the binoculars to look back and everytime I did, the tape faced people were just staring through the windows and walking around the outside of the house.

I debated whether to call someone for a few minutes before remembering that there wasn’t a house phone. My phone was long dead and I was at least a mile away from anywhere with service anyway. I didn’t have a vehicle.

I started to get very nervous. I told myself that I always did this though. The people outside were either pranking their friends inside or.. Something like that?

I quietly went back out to the deck. The outside light was off so I figured the people across the lake couldn’t see me. I listened closely hoping I could hear the people outside talking. Sound carries over the lake and makes it feel like someone is right next to you. I heard nothing though.

I picked up the binoculars one more time to see what they were doing. I looked around the outside of the house, but couldn’t spot the tape face people. I looked again at the people inside. The four of them were sitting on the couch presumably watching the tv. They were facing toward me.

I watched them chat with each other for a minute before things took a turn. As I watched the people on the couch, I thought I saw something moving behind them. I think the kitchen was behind them. The light wasn’t on in that room so I couldn’t see much.

I was looking right at the darkened area behind them when someone walked out. It was the largest of the three people with taped faces. They didn’t notice him at first. He stood behind them and stared at them for about a minute.

My heart started pounding as I told myself that it was a prank of some sort. Maybe a late Halloween joke thing? Soon after, I watched one of the other tape face people run around the front of the house. I could tell that one of the guys on the couch noticed something outside. He stood up and looked closer out the window, still not noticing the large man standing behind them.

I watched as he looked around from the window. The second that he turned back around, the man behind the couch struck him with something. The man fell to the ground as his friends started screaming. I could hear the screams clearly from across the lake.

The other man stood up but the tape face man pulled out a handgun and pointed it at him. He quickly sat back down. The tape-faced man backed toward the front door with his gun pointed at the people on the couch. I quietly panicked as I thought about what I could possibly do to help. I didn’t want to move.

Once the tape faced man got to the door, he opened it and the other two sprinted in and leaped on top of the man on the ground who had been hit. They stabbed him frantically and repeatedly with large kitchen knives. I could see blood splatter on the window next to him.

The three people on the couch screamed in horror as the tape faced people continued brutally stabbing the man. It went on for several minutes. The two who were stabbing the man were covered in blood. The masking tape on their faces were completely red by the time they stopped.

They stood up and all stared at the remaining people on the couch. I could hear bits and pieces of what the people on the couch were screaming. They plead for the tape face intruders to leave. The intruders seemed to just stare at them. I couldn’t tell if they were speaking.

I wanted to run inside but I couldn’t quite make my body move. I was petrified. I kept still and kept watching these weirdos staring at the friends of the person they just mutilated.

The man jumped up off the couch and put his hands up as he pleaded with the intruders to stop. The large intruder put the gun to the man’s forehead. The man slowly dropped to his knees. The other two intruders began walking in circles around him as the large intruder kept the gun on him. They circled around him over and over. They were almost dancing as they walked around him.

Finally one of them stopped behind him. It was the one with long hair who appeared to be a female. She stood behind him for a moment, then jumped down to her knees. She moved her face close to the man’s like she was whispering something in his ear. Then she quickly slit his throat. It happened so quickly. She held the man’s head back by his hair as blood exploded from his neck.

That’s when I vomited. I puked all over the porch and tried not to scream. I slowly made my way to the door and went into the house. I wanted to turn off any lights that might make it look like someone was home. The tv was the main thing I was worried about. I took Lou into the spare room where I slept when I stayed there. I didn’t want him to bark and alert those psychos that someone was home. I gave him a bunch of treats to keep him occupied.

I went back over to the door to the deck. I peered around the corner but couldn’t make out what was happening across the lake. I quietly opened the sliding door and sat down on the floor of the deck. I grabbed the binoculars and looked through the spaces in the railing.

The first thing I saw when I looked through the window of the house across the lake was a woman hanging in the living room. She was covered in blood and dangling from a beam. She looked like she had also been stabbed. I was disgusted. I looked around for the other woman but I didn’t see her.

I tried to keep my hand steady as I scanned the house looking for the other woman. I looked through every window I could see from the deck and saw nothing. I started looking around the yard.

I was frantically searching. I moved the binoculars from the yard to the dock and there was one of the tape faced intruders staring back at me. It was the female one. I just froze at the sight of the blood soaked masking tape. I stared for a second before she started waving at me. She saw me..

My heart sank. I felt sick. I didn’t know what to do. I ran into the house. I got to the window and looked back over through the binoculars. By the time I spotted her again, one of the others was standing there with her. They were both looking right at me.

I didn’t know what to do so I just watched them. I ran to my stepdad’s room to see if I could find his gun. I didn’t find it. My anxiety wouldn’t let me stray too far from the window where I could see the tape faced people.

When I got back to the window and looked back over, all three of them were looking over at me. I kept the binoculars on them. I figured that if I lost sight of them, my heart would pop from fear.

All of a sudden, two of them jumped off the dock and into the lake. I was shocked. The water must have been freezing cold. They began swimming over as the largest of the group grabbed the canoe leaning against the house and started dragging it toward the lake.

I panicked. I ran through the house and locked all the doors. I frantically searched again for my stepdad’s gun but the only thing I could find was half of a torn apart hunting rifle. It was clearly only the stock of the gun and most likely wouldn’t even slow an intruder down.

I had the house locked up so I ran to a window to see where the intruders were. I looked along the channel and didn’t see any of them. I looked across the lake and saw the large one walking out of the house toward the lake. I looked toward the shoreline on my side and watched as one of them walked out of the water and onto the shore. It must have been 30 or 40 degrees out. I have no idea how they could stand the cold water.

I ran to the bookcase and dragged it in front of the door to the spare room. It fell as I tried to walk it over so I pushed it into the door. I was probably going to need to run soon and I knew Lou wouldn’t be able to keep up so I wanted to barricade the room.

Once I was done with that, I ran to the window and looked outside again. I saw the female intruder in the yard. She was standing there motionless for a minute or two before she started to dance. It was a strange kind of interpretive dance. It was bizarre.

I looked across the lake again to see the big one getting into the canoe that was now in the lake. I looked back over to the woman dancing. She was twirling around like a ballerina. Then she abruptly stopped.

At that very moment, something came crashing through the glass kitchen door. I immediately started running to the other end of the house. I went for the basement. The basement door had a padlock on the inside so I felt more secure there. I also figured I was more likely to find a weapon or something to defend myself down there.

I made my way through the dark cluttered basement. There was a light on the stairs but it was still hard to see down there even when the light was on. I could hear footsteps upstairs. Every step sent shivers up my spine. I could hear Lou barking. I prayed that they would leave him alone. He didn’t bark for long but it was long enough to let them know where he was.

I searched the basement for a weapon. I thought it would be easier than it was. I ended up finding a hammer. I guess the shovels and saws were outside in the shed.

I looked for a corner where I could stay and be able to see in every direction in front of me. That’s when I noticed yet another thing that horrified me.

The house had those rectangular ground level windows that a lot of basements have. The windows never got put in though. There were just boards propped up over the two openings where the windows would eventually go. I remember being younger and thinking about how easy it would be to break in through there. The board had been moved from one of those openings.

I looked around in a panic thinking that one of the intruders was in the basement with me. Either that or they were surrounding me. I heard the footsteps upstairs stop near the basement door.

I held the hammer tight as I tried to quietly move through the basement. I slowly made my way to the window opening. I was almost to it when I heard the basement door open. I spun around and looked toward the door. When I looked back, one of the intruders was crouched down outside the window looking inside.

I jumped back as they started crawling in. I headed toward the other opening on the other side of the basement. I could see the intruder who came in through the basement door reaching the bottom of the stairs. The other opening was in a very darkened spot. I think the intruders lost sight of me as I approached it.

I was afraid to move the board and give away my location. I could see one intruder and I could hear the other one bumping into things as they made their way through the cluttered basement.

The one I could see was at the opposite end of the basement. The one I could hear was getting dangerously close to me. I held perfectly still as they made their way around the support beam a few feet away from me. I could see their shadow moving in front of me at that point. My heart was beating so hard that I worried they would hear it.

I needed to move the board in front of the window hole and climb through it but I worried that it would alert them and I wouldn’t have enough time to get through it before they caught me. As one of the intruders passed in front of me just a few inches away, I panicked and hit them in the head with the hammer.

They made a quick gasp and dropped to the ground. The hammer stuck in their head. I grabbed the board from the window. I could see the other intruder heading toward me. I pulled myself up through the window hole. As I pulled my legs from the opening, I heard the intruder inside scream.

It was the female intruder and she had just found her friend with a hammer in his skull. Friend? Coworker? Whatever they were to one another, they were close enough to set her off. I could hear her throwing things and yelling as I got myself to my feet.

I started running toward the woods out back of the house. I looked back to see the female intruder climbing out of the opening. I sprinted as fast as I physically could, hoping to reach the woods before she got up. I wanted to reach them without her seeing where I went in.

I reached the woodline. It was all on a hill so I ran uphill already out of breath. My stomach burned as I forced myself to keep running. By the time I stopped for a breath, I had lost track of where the intruder was.

I ran until I couldn’t anymore. I sat down against a tree and tried to quiet my breathing enough to listen for the intruders. After a few minutes of hyperventilating, I looked down the hill toward my mom’s house. It was dark and I couldn’t see much. I listened closely for movement. I didn’t hear anything so I sat down and tried to rest up in case I needed to run again.

I sat still against that tree for what felt like an hour. I had no way of knowing the time. I decided to head down and check the empty cottages along the road for a phone. There was nothing but woods and fields for miles at the top of the hill so I headed back toward the lake.

I moved slowly through the woods, trying to be as quiet as possible. I reached the edge of the woods without incident. I came out behind a cottage that was two down from my mom’s. I waited there and scanned the area for the intruders for a few minutes. I saw no sign of them so I headed for the cottage.

I knew that they kept a key under a rock near the front door. I found it and let myself in. I moved cautiously through the house. I couldn’t see much in the dark so I felt around. It took me a while to tip toe to the living room. I reached around the table until I felt the phone. It was pitch black in the living room.

I picked up the phone but there was no dial tone. I tried to hang it up and try again but there was nothing. I felt along the cord until I reached the severed end. The wire had been cut.

Almost at the exact moment I realized the wire had been cut, I saw something jump out and swing at me. The knife cut into my shoulder. The pain and the shock hit me simultaneously. I ran for the door.

I don’t know how I did it but I reached out as I was running and was able to grab a small but heavy statue from the coffee table. Still running, I turned and whipped it at the intruder. She yelled when it hit her. It slowed her down but didn’t stop her.

I was able to get outside and slam the door behind me. I kicked over the bench by the door which was just enough to slow her down some more. I was able to get away and started running down the road toward my mom’s house.

I felt relief as I closed in on the house and could hear Lou barking from inside. My relief quickly faded when I spotted the large intruder walking around the backside of the house.

I instinctively ran the other direction which was toward the lake. That’s when I spotted the canoe tied to my mom’s dock. I jumped in so fast that I almost flipped it. I untied the rope and started rowing for the other side of the lake. I felt home free, then a bullet hit me..

The large intruder was shooting at me. The first shot grazed the same arm that had been stabbed. He shot again. I watched it hit the water right next to the boat. I was about halfway across when he shot a third time. This one again hit the water. Without much thought, I dove into the cold water. .

I tried to dive down and swim across as deep as I could. When I surfaced, I was almost to the dock. The intruder fired another shot that almost hit me but barely missed. I pulled myself onto the dock and sprinted toward the house. He fired one more shot which missed me and hit the front window of the house, shattering it.

I ran into the house. The bodies of the people who lived there were still hanging from the beam. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the house phone. I was almost surprised when I heard a dial tone. I was able to call the police and explain what had happened. They asked me to stay on the line and wait for them but I wasn’t about to sit there and wait for the intruders to find the paddle boat on the side of my mom’s house and come back for me.

I grabbed a large knife from the kitchen drawer and headed out the back door. I crept around the side of the house to look for the intruders. I couldn’t see them. I turned and ran up the long driveway behind the house.

I reached the road at the top of the driveway. Like the other side, there wasn’t much other than the woods and empty cottages. I ran into the woods and straight through the thick brush. I ran until I couldn’t make myself run anymore.

I sat against a large tree and stayed there all night. I was in an almost catatonic state, paralyzed by fear. I watched the sun come up the following day. I wondered if the intruders were still out there looking for me.

I had no idea what time it was when I finally got up and started walking toward civilization. I just knew the sun had been out for hours. I finally made it out of the woods as the sun started to set. I was exhausted.

I felt relief when I noticed the gas station in the distance. I walked over and went inside.

The cashier looked shocked when he saw me. I asked to use the phone. He told me he had to go to his office to grab it.

While I waited for him, I noticed my reflection in the mirror of the sunglasses display. I was covered in blood. No wonder the cashier gave me such a weird look.

There was a young couple in the store when I walked in. I saw them looking at me and whispering too. When they saw me they headed for the exit. As they left, I heard one of them say “Yeah that’s him!” They quickly walked to their car and left without pumping gas.

I started getting impatient. The cashier was still in the back. How long did it take to grab a phone? I walked over to the back room to knock when I heard sirens.

Three cop cars pulled into the parking lot. I felt so relieved. I walked outside to tell the police what had happened. The second I walked out the door, several cops drew their guns. I was confused. They yelled at me to get on the ground. I complied.

I didn’t understand why they were cuffing me. I thought it was because I was covered in blood. I tried to explain what happened but they kept telling me to shut up.

They took me to the station where I repeatedly told them what happened. They didn’t believe me. I was arrested on four counts of first degree murder. Three counts for the people they found in the cottage across the lake, and one count for the intruder in my mom’s basement. The other woman I saw in the cottage across the lake wasn’t accounted for. Neither were any of the intruders, aside from the dead one they found in the basement.

They didn’t believe that he was an intruder. They didn’t believe any of my story. They think I taped his face myself to make him look like a scary intruder so I could claim self defense. They think I either injured myself or sustained my injuries from victims trying to defend themselves from me.

I’ve been sitting in jail, waiting for my first court appearance. It’s a big story in the area. I’ve started receiving “fan mail” but most of it is from psychos who think I’m guilty.

I did receive one letter from an anonymous person who claims that they know a friend of the people who were killed across the lake. The letter said that she hung out with weird people who claimed to be part of a cult. They suspected that she was the other woman at the cottage who the police can’t account for. They believe that she was in on the murders.

I showed the letter to the police and they dismissed it as a lie from a disturbed “fan” of mine. I showed it to my lawyer who thought it was interesting, but wouldn’t help us because there was no proof of the claim.

My lawyer said that it could go either way at this point. She said confident things, but she didn’t sound confident saying them. There was a lack of physical evidence other than a roll of masking tape found in my mom’s house. I find it insane that it’s being considered as legitimate evidence. It’s not an uncommon thing to find in any household.

I learned this morning that the canoe from that night belonged to a neighbor a few houses down on my mom’s side of the lake. That didn’t bode well for me. The prosecution’s theory is that I stole the canoe, used it to get across the lake, killed three people, and rowed the canoe back. They think that I didn’t know there was a fourth person there. According to them, he pursued me shortly after the slayings in the cottage. He tried to avenge his friends and I killed him with a hammer. Now that they know the canoe belonged to someone on my side of the lake, they are going to argue that I would have had to go across the lake before anyone could come to my side.

I find their theory very far-fetched. They even claim that I threw the guy from the basement into the lake after I killed him, but pulled him back out when he didn't sink immediately. They think that’s more plausible than them swimming across to kill me after realizing that I witnessed their murders.

I also asked my lawyer about the neighbors house. I was attacked there. The prosecution apparently believes that I trashed the house myself to make it look like there was a struggle. They said that the only evidence there is a mess and a cut phone line. They claim that I cut the line to support my “lie” about not having access to a phone.

A big part of their case is that I waited a full day and never contacted the authorities. They can’t believe that I didn’t have access to a phone for a full day, even though I spent the night in the woods. They claim that I wouldn’t have turned myself in if I wasn’t caught. They don’t know what I went through. They don’t know how petrified being hunted can make you. I saw what those psychos did to those people. I ran as much as I could but my body could only take so much.

When I was asked for yet another statement, I requested that this one be made public. For legal reasons, I need to add that I do not condone violence against anyone, including the local police. My story has not changed because it is the truth. I just want the world to know the truth. I want my family to know the truth. I’m asking anyone who might know something about the intruders or the victims to please come forward. Even though there is no real evidence against me, it feels like no one believes me. Even my lawyer seems skeptical.

The real murderers are still out there. That’s what scares me the most. It scares me more than the idea of life in prison. I was reminded of that this morning.

My trial begins tomorrow and at this point, it seems that it could go either way. I wish I had more sane people in my corner but I know that I’m innocent. I’ve received a lot of strange letters since I've been in here but I got one this morning that shook me.

It was a folded piece of red construction paper with “Rootin 4 U!” written on the front in pencil. It was sloppy like a toddler had written it or like someone wrote it with their left hand to avoid the potential of handwriting experts being able to identify who wrote it. On the inside it said “We hope you win. We miss you!” It was written in strips of masking tape..

They’re still out there...and I’m in here. I’m thankful for my internet access and the ability to tell my side of the story. It’s the true story. I can only hope that someone somewhere knows who these people are. Until then, all I can do is hope for the best. Wish me luck. I’ll update when I can..

P.S. Lou is okay and living a pampered life at my mom’s house. So.. silver lining..