Maddy Durmis was jolted awake by a crash just after midnight Wednesday inside her Greenfield home, and when she went downstairs, she found her deadbolted front door lying in the entryway, ripped clean off its hinges. A strange man was standing inside her house. What followed was a chaotic confrontation that spilled out onto the sidewalk, where the intruder falsely told her she was under arrest before fleeing toward Murray Avenue with her car keys.
According to WTAE, Durmis had never seen the man before. She shoved him, and he fell before running from the house. Durmis grabbed a curtain rod and chased him down the sidewalk, tripping on her bottom step and falling before he escaped toward a corner. As he ran, the man claimed to be state police and told her she was under arrest — a claim officers on scene did not corroborate.
Pittsburgh police confirmed the intruder fled toward Murray Avenue, and the station's report describes him as a thin man about 5 feet 8 inches tall and roughly 150 pounds, with short brown hair, last seen wearing a black tank top and dark jeans. He got away with Durmis's car keys, but her roommate guarded the vehicle until officers arrived. Around four to five officers responded to the scene, and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police crime unit searched for fingerprints as part of the investigation.
Where the Break-In Happened
The City of Pittsburgh Public Safety Department separately confirmed that Zone 4 officers responded at approximately 12:15 a.m. Wednesday to a reported burglary in progress on the 900 block of Greenfield Avenue, according to the City of Pittsburgh. City records describe two adult female residents confronting a male suspect on a stairwell landing after hearing the downstairs break-in, consistent with the account of Durmis and her roommate encountering the intruder before he fled with stolen vehicle keys.
Greenfield sits in Pittsburgh's 15th Ward, a 0.77-square-mile neighborhood marked by steep hills and 26 flights of city steps, with commercial corridors running along Greenfield Avenue and Murray Avenue, per background compiled from Wikipedia. The area is patrolled by the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police's Zone 4 precinct, headquartered at 5858 Northumberland Street in neighboring Squirrel Hill, which also covers Point Breeze, Shadyside, Oakland, and Regent Square.
Rare for a Neighborhood Rated Safer Than Most
Zone 4 recorded 121 burglaries, 47 robberies, 86 aggravated assaults, and 1,570 theft reports throughout 2025, according to crime statistics published by the city. Greenfield itself ranks in the 82nd percentile for overall neighborhood safety nationwide, with an “A-” overall safety rating and an annual total crime rate of 22.65 per 1,000 residents, per CrimeGrade.org — figures that underscore how atypical a forced-entry home invasion is for the community. The neighborhood is home to an estimated 6,500 to 7,300 residents across roughly 3,800 housing units, with owner-occupied homes making up about 64% to 66% of the residential properties, according to Niche and community data.
Felony Charges Could Include Burglary and Impersonating Police
Pennsylvania law treats forced entry into an occupied home as a serious felony. Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 3502(a)(1), entering an occupied structure adapted for overnight accommodation when a person is present with intent to commit a crime is graded as a first-degree felony, carrying up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $25,000, according to Shuttleworth Law P.C. Separately, falsely pretending to be a law enforcement officer to induce someone to submit to pretended official authority is a third-degree felony under 18 Pa.C.S. § 4912, punishable by up to seven years in prison and fines up to $15,000, per the Pennsylvania General Assembly's statutory language.
No arrests had been made as of the police report, and the investigation remains ongoing. The Pennsylvania State Police have previously warned the public about imposter schemes in which individuals falsely claim to be police officers or sergeants to deceive residents, advising anyone who encounters someone claiming law enforcement authority under suspicious circumstances to immediately call 911 to verify the person's identity and agency affiliation.
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