My family lives in the Cunningham Creek Estates neighborhood--just south of Julington Creek Plantation off SR-13. Sometime between 4:30-5am or so, my 8 year old daughter was awakened by a noise and remembered sitting up in her bed and looking around her room. She then got out of her bed, went to the window, did not see anything and went back to her bed. She could not get back to sleep so she turned on her light and decided to go ahead and get ready for school.
She took a shower and returned to her bedroom to get dressed. As she was dressing, she turned and saw a man looking at her in her window. She froze for a second, saw him blink, then ran out of the room towards the door. She looked back at the window when she got to the door and saw that the man had moved from one side of the window to the other to watch her as she ran out. She said his face was so close to the glass of her window--that he actually fogged up the window around his mouth and nose. She could only see that he was a white male, with possibly blue eyes. By the time she awoke us and we called for police--this person was long gone.
We also think this person had been at her window the prior school day (Thursday) as she was awakened at the exact same time of the morning--and at the time we thought maybe she was getting sick and didn't have a clue that it might have been a noise outside at her window.
St. Johns County Sheriff's office does have a police report on this situation and have exhausted all leads in this case. We may never know who this man was at our window and without fingerprints (there were none)--we really don't have anything to go on.
Please make sure your children's rooms and windows are secure. We did not have an alarm system on the day this happened to our daughter (we do now). If you don't have a security system--I have been told that there are special window accessories you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe's that enable you to keep the window from being opened (bar that fits inside, special clips). We did leave her blinds open a lot--and it was very obvious from the road that a little girl lived in that room--with flowers hanging from the windows--and bright pink walls beaming from the light inside the house. You may want to remove any identifying items that would give away to the outside that a child is living in that room. I always felt so safe tucked back in our neighborhood--I never thought something like this would happen.
I started this blog along with another mother who will be posting what happened to her as well. Her situation (which happened just this past Saturday morning) is very similar to ours and we both are determined to get the word out and let our family, friends, and neighbors in this area know what is happening. Let's hope this person (or people)get the message that we are on the look out--and we will act BEFORE something awful happens in our area. We don't want any regrets,..the price of the possibility of anything happening to just one child is too much to bear.
I cannot leave this post without bringing up that what happened to my daughter was on the same day as Somer Thompson's disappearance well before she even went missing from her walk home from school. As you can imagine, that awful situation has brought about a whole other dimension to my fears for my children--as it has so many moms in our area who are downright disgusted by what we are seeing on the news each day. My hope is that this little blog listing will help families in our area stay informed and aware so we can ensure that these predators of children know that Saint Johns and Fruit Cove is on ALERT--and WATCHING!
Please pass on this blog to all the local families you can--and let's help each other win the battle for the safety of our children in Fruit Cove! God Bless!
Monday, November 9, 2009
5 comments:
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Thank you for starting this blog. Remember everyone, it's not enough to be aware of the currently known local sex offenders because as I always say... there's always a first time...
ReplyDeleteProtect our kids!
Anonymous--
ReplyDeleteThat is a great point. The offenders on the registered list are the previous offenders who are following the law and registering themselves in whatever community they enter once leaving incarceration. There are a slew of others who do not register themselves and move from area to area,..avoiding the monitoring of the police. These are the most dangerous.
Then there are those who have been doing these things and have somehow avoided getting caught. All the more reason to pay attention to everyone around you. From what I have been reading--it seems it is always someone you would least suspect.
As a concerned dad I would say that we can either fortify our homes or better yet work together to deter others from bad intentions. I'll state the obvious here but these people that are breezing through our neighborhoods looking to victimize someone have a clear motive, either they are a sexual predator or looking at breaking into a house to rob someone. They will not commit a crime without being comfortable. They will check out vulnerable neighborhoods that have easy access in and out, that are poorly lit, bushes trees, where to park or walk off-site or on street without getting notice, access through the woods, park etc.. They'll figure out the patterns of people moving in and out, my guess is that they will do their homework without being noticed...Those days of peeping toms are gone, these guys want to gratify themselves and are obsessive and given the chance may physically intrude.
ReplyDeleteIf you live on a dark street petition your association or the county to put brighter lights, block off easy access etc. Trim bushes, on and on...The problem is that if we as home owners fortify our house, the criminals will just move on to our neighbor, the crime will happen sooner or later and will again put us all in fear, take action now, so we can create a safer community!
I think alarm is a good option, window locks, deadbolt locks, you can also replace your flood lights with sensor ones, plastic ones are cheap as $14 (from Lows), replacing outside lights with florescent lights if your concerned about energy consumption during the night. Organize watch groups, if someone is going to work at 5 am then maybe he can just keep an eye out on the neighboring houses by just looking out or taking a short walk etc etc...
I have nothing revolutionary to offer here but with 4000+ homes here and most of us raising kids and want them to be safe, its best to work together, plan and organize so we can create this buffer, we already have a geographical boundary (Julington Creek) so we are fortunate than some other neighborhoods!
Not smart posting all these e-mail addresses for predtors in your area
ReplyDeleteAnonymous--
ReplyDeleteNot sure what email addresses you are referring to, but we are not putting email addresses on this site. Please be specific as to what you mean.