Donuts and apples vanished, chairs shifted and a deadbolt clicked shut on its own – eerie clues that led a US couple to a chilling discovery: a stranger had allegedly been living beneath their home for days.
Dutch and Sharon Hoggatt, from Searcy, began noticing small but unsettling changes late last month – work shoes missing from the back door, food gone, furniture out of place – and feared they were imagining things.
“I came in looking for my work shoes. I always leave them by the back door. My work shoes were gone,” Hoggatt told KTHV.
“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.”
On April 29, their daughter, Cherisse, and son‑in‑law, Mark Gregory, stopped by while Mr Hoggatt was at church to put their minds at ease.
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Dutch Hoggatt and his wife Sharon noticed that thing in their home were mysteriously disappearing. Source: Facebook
Landis was arrested on April 29 by the White County Sheriff’s Office. Source: Supplied/ Hoggatt family
Gregory, who brought a baseball bat and a firearm for safety, said Sharon edged into a basement storage area and spotted a leg poking out from beneath the stairs.
“I could see that she was freaked out, so they backed out of the room, and I went in,’ Gregory said.
Sharon called 911 as the family tried to coax the man – later identified by police as 41‑year‑old Preston Landis – from his hiding place.
When he didn’t respond, Gregory shouted at him to come out and struck the door with the bat.
Landis emerged and left the house without a struggle.
Security footage showed the man creeping around the family’s home without a shirt on. Source: Supplied/ Hoggatt family
Landis made a makeshift bed for himself in a storage area underneath a basement staircase. Source: Supplied/ Hoggatt family
Police noted he had barbed‑wire marks on his face, which he said were from earlier.
The family believe Landis first entered through a crawl space three days earlier to escape severe weather, then moved into the basement the next day, setting up a makeshift bed in a storage closet.
Surveillance footage from inside the family home captured the intruder – wearing nothing but shorts – walking through the family’s home in the dead of night.
Gregory said he spoke with Landis until the White County Sheriff’s Office arrived.
“I don’t think he was trying to be a bad guy,” he 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.”
Preston Landis, 41, was arrested after he was discovered allegedly living in an Arkansas couple’s home. Source: White County Sheriff’s Office
Landis was arrested and charged with residential burglary and theft of property.
His bond was set at $20,740 (US$15,000).
Cherisse said Landis apologised before being taken away.
“He did say, ‘Tell your folks that I’m really sorry and they seem like really nice people.”
Despite the missing clothing and food, the Hoggatts said nothing valuable was taken.
“We’re not angry at this man,” Dutch 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.”
English (US) · 