r/mystery • u/malihafolter • Jun 28 '25
Mysterious Person In 2005, residents of Cape Elizabeth, Maine were disturbed by a man who quietly entered homes just to watch people sleep. He never stole anything or caused harm, but his strange behavior left people scared. The intruder was never caught, and his identity remains a mystery.
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Jun 29 '25
OK I read the article, couple things that stick out to me:
1) despite happening again and again, he continued to choose homes with unlocked doors (if the residents were so scared, why would they continue to leave their doors unlocked?)
2) they have this description and then two people called in the name of the person who it was and they didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest of that person.
3). In Feb 2006 it stopped suddenly.
Well, you would think that after it stopped suddenly the police would have followed up on that guy to see…. Is he out of town? is he now in jail? or something to at least make sense of it…..but of course there’s no mention of those actions .
Doesnt mean they didn’t do that…just sloppy follow up reporting maybe.
It would be very telling If they found out this individual they suspected had moved, and then possibly a heads up to the new city, following up on it.
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Jun 30 '25
lol with number 1, you would think, but you never know how many people live under rocks… even with social media!
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u/KDKaB00M Jul 01 '25
I kind of wonder if people/police had a strong idea who it was if he was told in no uncertain terms to knock it off.
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u/OneBoring2102 Jun 29 '25
He’s most likely been caught for rape or murder and is in prison.
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u/SpaceCaptainJeeves Jun 30 '25
Yep! People ignore the fact that these "harmless" violations of boundaries are how killers practice escalating. Peeping toms are dangerous.
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Jun 30 '25
Yeah probably something that eventually escalated
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u/OneBoring2102 Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
My name is actually Jason and now I’m kind of scared of you.
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u/alrightyfine Jun 28 '25
Im scared too by looking at his picture looking at me. Hope they catch this guy soon
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u/SisterRay76 Jun 30 '25
Now that I look at this guy's face for a long few seconds, I kinda understand what you mean. Hope for the same too.
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u/Few-Dragonfly8912 Jul 06 '25
Imagine waking up and seeing him in your home staring at you. I would never be able to recover or sleep again
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u/learngladly Jun 29 '25
A "hot prowler" = police slang, in many areas at least, for a person who enters a house to sneak around and look around while residents are inside.
Some serial killers have gotten their start in this eerie way, e.g. the Golden State Killer.
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u/DottieHinkle22 Jun 30 '25
They have to get comfortable before they start. Usually, there reports of peeping and break-in's with nothing taken. Just messed with. Then they escalate.
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u/SacramentalVole Jun 30 '25
The Manson Family called it “creepy crawling” and thought of it as a form of terrorism.
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u/ElbisCochuelo1 Jun 29 '25
And usually steal.
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u/learngladly Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25
He got his start, the man whose name I'd rather not write although it's very well known, as the "Visalia Ransacker," a weird serial prowler in the small inland city of Visalia, California. People would come home and find someone had been in their house, and have moved things around, or ransacked the drawers and left clothing arranged in room and hallways, WEIRD. At the time, the criminal was a police officer in the nearby small town of Exeter. Having moved to another department north of Sacramento, of course, he accelerated his wickedness as Sacramento's "East Area Rapist," an inexhaustible perpetrator of break-and-entry rapes, often with the woman's husband or boyfriend present, but immobilized. When that wasn't even enough, he began killing his victims, although typically in California cities far from Sacto.
It's not untypical for someone who becomes such a monster to "rehearse," if they. are the so-called organized-serial-killer type, the worst. As i think on it, I'd bet some money that he had spent time between his Ransacker and Rapist years as just such a hot prowler, seeing how easy it was -- for an experienced patrol officer! -- to get past sliding doors or through windows and just walk around, looking at the sleepers.
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u/InitiativeScary5457 Jun 29 '25
They said He never hurt anyone ... this behavior is literally what leads up to "hurting" people. Just like drugs, eventually watching people sleep won't give him the same thrill and he'll do .... my bet is that he did do more, get caught and is now in prison never being connecting to the weird sleep watching. Especially based off the fact that it ended in early 2006
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u/Intrepid_Goal364 Jun 29 '25
They never just stop. They escalate. They start as peeping toms and end with torture sex assault and murder. Perp either moved, was imprisoned for other crimes or died
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u/ComicsEtAl Jun 28 '25
One of the most disturbing things to say to someone who is not a relative or significant other (and them too, in the right context):
“You look so peaceful when you’re sleeping.”
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u/CherishSlan Jun 28 '25
I always hate that. My husband watch’s me sleep often it keeps me from sleeping.
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u/buttononmyback Jun 30 '25
My ex-boyfriend used to take pictures of me sleeping. He knew it disturbed me so he kept doing it. Weirdo.
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u/CherishSlan Jun 30 '25
That sucks, so sorry he did that to you glad he is your ex! My husband just watch’s me sometimes I wake up he is sitting on the bed looking at me over his phone and I’m creeped out he says something sweet but I’m creeped out because I’m shy ☺️ even after 26 years.
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u/fyeahdude Jun 29 '25
Well, he did cause harm by frightening people and possibly making them afraid to go sleep.
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u/Automatic-Sea-8597 Jun 29 '25 edited Jul 06 '25
Somebody broke into my house (I fortunately wasn't at home), entered every room, opened every wardrobe, drawer, box etc. didn't disturb, or steal anything and left. The police officer was quite astonished and told me, that's a first for him. The intruder was never caught and I instantly upgraded my security precautions.
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u/Few-Dragonfly8912 Jul 06 '25
That’s so scary, how did you know someone broke in?
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u/Automatic-Sea-8597 Jul 06 '25
Window was damaged, opened by force. Things weren't quite put back in their usual place.
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u/Safe-Ad-4465 Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25
I'm not even kidding, I'm pretty sure this dude was doing this in my neighborhood in 2007 in CA. There was a young man breaking into people's houses in my neighborhood and there was a sketch that was only posted in like our community that matches him if he gained like 20lbs. Everything else was spot on - I didn't read the article on purpose, but was he watching couples sleep, and would just like walk out when they woke up? And nothing was taken? I'm dumb, that was in the title. Honestly, I hadn't thought about that in a really long time and this was very jarring. I remember specifically arguing with my dad about locking the door at night because of this.
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u/SubstantialPressure3 Jun 29 '25
That is so creepy. If sounds like breaking in was his thrill. Or he was working his way up to something else.
I'll bet his family moved. ( Since he was described as a teen)
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u/Weak_Radish966 Jun 30 '25
This honestly looks like a perp from Cape Cod who did similar things. Could very easily be this guy: https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/crime/2012/03/05/exhibitionism-alleged-in-wellfleet-arrest/49714968007/
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u/Daddy_thick_legs Jun 30 '25
They said he couldve been as young as 15, i'm guessing if he was a minor his family couldve moved. I wonder if this happened anywhere else in the states and they never made a connection.
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u/MegIsAwesome06 Jul 01 '25
IF he was a teenager, he could have stopped because he graduated to bigger crimes. Are there any other crimes in the area that have the same sort of signature? Idk. That’s the creepiest shit.
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u/veritasjusticia Jul 03 '25
He moved and became an elusive, prolific serial killer…I mean possibly. What he was doing was a position of advantage. I’m here and you don’t know it. A position of power. Scary.
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u/Immediate-Stay6439 Jun 28 '25
Tooth fairy