A Castle Hills woman woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of running water in her own shower, only to discover a stranger had let himself into her home using house keys she'd left inside her unlocked car. Police say the man was arrested inside the house after officers responded to the address on South Winston Lane near Northwest Military Highway shortly before 7 a.m.
Woman Retreats To Bedroom After Finding Men's Shoes
According to KSAT, the woman lives in the home alone and initially woke to the sound of water running in her shower. When she went to investigate, she found a pair of men's shoes that didn't belong to her. Recognizing that someone else was in the house, she panicked and ran back into her bedroom rather than confront the intruder herself.
She then called police, and officers arrived at the home and were able to enter and arrest the man on several charges, the station reports. As of Tuesday afternoon, authorities had not released his name.
Interim Chief Points To Unlocked Car, Labeled Keys
Interim Castle Hills Police Chief Jose Davila described what happened inside the bedroom once the woman spotted the unfamiliar shoes. “Being that she lives by herself, and a pair of men's shoes was found, she panicked a little bit, ran back inside in her bedroom,” he said, per the same account. Davila also emphasized how relatively lucky the outcome was, saying, “Thank God nothing serious happened other than him breaking into the house.”
Investigators determined the suspect got inside using the woman's own house keys, which she had left inside her unlocked car. Compounding the risk, those keys were labeled as house keys, and Davila warned that such labeling, combined with an address, can make it far easier for criminals to take advantage of people. In response, police are urging residents to lock their car doors and keep valuables out of reach.
The Castle Hills case echoes a starkly different outcome from 2017, when a Washington state property owner was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting an intruder he found showering on his property in Belfair. Authorities in that case said the man fired four times through a shower curtain, killing 31-year-old Nathanial Rosa, and the Mason County Sheriff's Office said at the time that the circumstances did not appear to support a claim of reasonable self-defense. In Castle Hills, officers entered the home and arrested the man.
