Family finds man living in their basement after making chilling discoveries
While some folks are still living in their parents basements because it's impossible to buy a house, one US couple were left horrified when they realised they had a randomer making camp in their underground area.
We all fear the idea of a burglar entering our home and stealing our valuables but it wasn't jewellery or expensive luxuries that Preston Landis was after.
The 41-year-old was recently discovered to be secretly living with Arkansas husband and wife Dutch and Sharon Hoggatt, after they thought they were going crazy with missing items and food.
Items such as donuts and apples would disappear from their kitchen while they were out, while they were also left baffled after chairs appeared to move around on their own.
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"I came in looking for my work shoes. I always leave them by the back door. My work shoes were gone,' Hoggatt told Idaho outlet KTVB.
"I asked my wife if she had thrown them away, and she had not. Over time, we noticed that chairs had been moved around in the house. We noticed that some of our food was missing."
It was only after they asked for help from their daughter Cherisse and her husband Mark Gregory that they were able to discover the location of Landis, who had been sneaking around the house at night and helping himself to food and shelter.
"We stopped by our house. I grabbed my bat and a gun just in case," Gregory said. "We didn't know what to expect."
They stopped by the house while the parents were away at church and made the harrowing discovery, spotting Landis' leg sticking out from underneath the basement stairs.
Eventually, Gregory was able to coax him out using a baseball bat, with the couple quickly calling 911 and having police take him away.
However, despite later videos capturing Landis walking around the house shirtless, the family noted that he didn't take anything valuable and was perhaps just searching for some shelter after a period of extreme weather conditions.
"I don't think he was trying to be a bad guy,' Gregory said.
"There was plenty of opportunities where he could have taken things. It seemed like he was just trying to get out of the elements, trying to survive."
He even allegedly apologised on his way out, with Cherisse suggesting that he said: "Tell your folks that I'm really sorry and they seem like really nice people."
Landis only stayed in the home for a few days and after the initial terror of discovering him there, they expressed sympathy for his situation.
"We're not angry at this man,' Hoggatt said. "I feel sorry for the man. I'm glad we figured out there was somebody living in the house because this could have gone on for much longer than it did."
Landis was booked by the White County Sheriff's Office. His bond was set for $15,000.
James Moorhouse