Amber Dawn was 20 when she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Enumclaw, Washington. On her very first night, she began to notice strange sounds. And they didn't stop.
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To start with you introducing yourself, oh my name. Is
Amber dawn and I live
my family in Berwin Illinois. I work as a animal trainer at the Shedd Aquarium
and that's about it. What kind of animals do train
mostly penguins and autres, but I also
work with all of our animals in the Marine Mammal Department. What do you train a penguin to do,
mostly husbandry care? So we practice going to the vet with them. We asked him
be calm in our lap and come with other people? We can t
them to spin in the follow us train them. You know
come to their names. You can teach a penguin almost anything. So do you have
slick, penguin friends, ones that you like more than others. Well I'll.
Of all of her penguins, but I do have my favourites
help hand raise eleven of them, so uh
yeah I mean the
a penguin chooses you they choose
You would be there person and then every time you come out into exhibit
you can come out of the water and run up to you and do there.
Flirty behavior,
I've. I knew I wanted to work with animals ever since I was a small child, so I sort of
with them years ago. We're here to talk
about something that happened longer ago than that,
how long ago,
were you living in that apartment in Washington
twenty one years ago
long before she worked with penguins
for Don moved to one of the rainiest places in America, the small town of
Enumclaw WA to be close,
her brother and sister in law,
as gorgeous. I could see Mount Rainier out of my bedroom window of this apartment like right. There was no was gorgeous
She moved into a small apartment, building
It was on the top floor. A one
bedroom with a.
Call dining room living room and kitchen and a little balcony on the front. She was twenty,
the first night I moved in you know I had
I had been playing music. While I was unpacking and I went,
bed that night and I turned off the music and
I was laying in my bed an I heard, footsteps in the attic and they were very clear footsteps. Um and I
wasn't quite sure why I would be hearing that, but you know all whenever you
moving to a new apartment. You know
you start to notice all the different sounds that that particular space makes
and so I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it sounded like footsteps. Had you been
told that there is an attic in the apartment, or did you have an entrance to the attic in your apartment? There was a across
is that it was just a little push up.
I don't even know what you would call it like: a like a trap door in the ceiling kind of
sort of yeah I was like it would push up into the ceiling, so is like a
square? Maybe two one slash two by two one slash two feet: let push up
do this healing and that came in
to my bedroom or it,
is in my bedroom ceiling. So I could see it from my bed and I thought ok, you know that
probably not what it is. You know, you're you have an act
like. I know. I have an active imagination, so I just you know
fell asleep anyway, but
next day I went to the landlord and I told them you know. I think I heard footsteps,
up there last night. Is there any way that anybody could be up there? An
she told me know she said it was probably squirrels or raccoon or something I was like well that squirrels were in a pretty big set of boots. Then we've all had that feeling that something isn't quite right.
And we're very good at talking ourselves down going,
and with our lives telling ourselves that it's all in our imagination and most of the time it is
I'm Phoebe Judge this is criminal
I was very meticulous. You know everything was,
right organized. I knew it was in my cupboards Ann
I would buy a six pack of soda. I would drink one
maybe take one to work with me, and I would
back in there would be three left and it's like well did I drink two, that's odd or like cans of soup would be missing. What did you do? What
you think was happening. Well, I I had moved Enumclaw to be close to my brother and he lived about three blocks away. He had a key to the apartment.
I assumed they.
He was coming into my apartment and eating my food, because that is something he would do just come over
Grabich Anisota, soda or whatever, so I I thought it was him. Did you confront him yeah? I called
I told him you know I can't afford to feed you do
come over here and eat my food and it
Is it happening all the time? I just wouldn't notice that every now and again Amber
in home much. She was working so
several jobs processing papers for an accountant working at the local drug store?
and waitress sing at night, so when she notice that little things in her apartment had been moved, she'd second guess herself chalk it up to exhaustion.
She was starting to feel at home in Enumclaw she had her two cats and then she got a puppy. She was a beautiful german shep.
Next she was maybe nine or ten weeks old, so really little yeah. She is just a baby
so she was learning to be potty trained. So I would come home
between my jobs and walk her.
And I was channeling her in the bathroom
while she was learning her.
Her manners in learning to be potty trained. So I kept her in the bathroom.
With newspaper on the floor and water and toys and stuff one night she was waitress sing
when she got a call from her landlord saying that her bathroom was flooding and my day
downstairs. Neighbor was getting rained on in her bathroom, so
I came home and we we came in my apartment and
Open up the bathroom door and my puppy,
is in the bathroom sink I asked I was like: did you put her in
Think she's like no, we wouldn't open the door because we didn't know how big the dog was. We didn't know if it was people friendly. So this is why you had to come here
but there's no way she could have gotten into that sink? She was a little puppy and the toilet.
As you know far enough
away from the sink that she wouldn't have been able to climb
Was there water all over the ground? Uh huh? It was a big mess.
The puppy was dry like safe in the sink yeah. She was sitting in the sink, but like so
You must have put her in the sink right. There's no way she could have
yes, someone must have put her in that thing
Enumclaw, is a tiny, safe farming. Community. Nothing ever went on there, so
time Amber got worried. She just reminded herself that her brother and sister in law were three blocks away and she kept
self busy. She,
been living in her apartment for about six months when she got sick and called into our jobs, and so on this day,
the very first time
shouldn't leave her apartment at all. It was around seven hundred o'clock at night. I was on the couch and I was watching. I was watching my stories watching mighty,
and I heard a loud thump in the bedroom and I just
dismissed it because I have animals and they make noise, and I just just
so and kept on watching television
later on that evening,
around eleven or so I
turn off all the lights I drew a bath. I got undressed
and I got into the bathtub and I
so I'm in the bathroom I got a candle lit an I look up in that crawl space door was open an everything just
slowed way down and you're in the bat in the bathtub, I'm in the bathroom naked in the bathtub naked in the bathtub in the dark.
An I'm assistant that bathtub for ten to fifteen seconds after seeing that crawl space door open, but it felt like five minutes and I put it all together as like. Ok the footsteps, the first night
The doors being closed when I had left them open the missing food sia, my dog in the sink.
There was someone living in my house with me,
so I very calmly got out of the tub.
And got my robe I put it on, there is only
one place he could have been hiding, and that was in the bedroom closet and I had to walk by the closet in order to get out and the cloud
that were those mirror doors, and that was
really scary, to see myself. You know
in the dark, knowing that he was on the other side of that door. Did you say anything? No? No, if he would have if he would have opened that door. If I would have seen him, I would have lost it. He's been living in my apartment for six months. If he wanted to hurt me, that's not what he wants. He just needs a place to stay he's, probably not a bad guy like he put Thea in the sink. Like he's, I don't want to freak him out. I don't want to scare him by screaming and yelling, because then he might hurt me so that he doesn't get caught, so I very quietly walked past it. The closet- and I did
out the door, I went to the phone an under my phone. I had a junk drawer in in the junk drawer. There was a hammer, so I had the hammer in my hand claw out. So if anybody came at me, they were going to get a face full of hammer claw, and I call my sister this was before most of us had cell phones so Amber had to stay in the apartment and use the landline. She told her sister in law that someone was in her house and her
Stremlau told her to get out of there as fast as she could. So I grabbed
hubby and I walked out the door.
I walked out the door in my robe with a hammer in one hand and a puppy in the other, and I got to the bar.
On the stairs in, I was looking at the the apartment door and I was like please don't come out. Please don't come out, please don't come out. 'cause, like I said like if I
I have seen him. I think I would have lost it.
She was there within minutes with her
food giant german shepherds in the back of a car.
And we went.
We went to her house and we called the police and what did they find out? Well, the police came to the apartment, but he was gone in the
the police found a little bit of food. A book
a sleeping bag,
I don't know
how he was getting to the apartment. I mean I.
After window open for
cats, so he
should have gone in.
Out that way. I had
spare key. He could have take
my spare keys and made a copy too. I mean I don't know
He could have lived there before me
and maybe the manager sent change the locks. I don't I don't know she filed a police report and
call Amber, believes it was a man there's no way to know whoever
is living up. There was never found. We
spoke to Amber's brother, Eric Olson.
And he remembers Joe.
Just how nervous and scared she was through the whole thing.
And how relieved she was to get out of there
We also asked if he remembered Amber accusing him of stealing food from her apartment. We said that sounds about right. It's been more than twenty years and Amber says
she still wishes. She could find this person and ask them what was going on.
Did you stay in the apartment? No,
No, my grandparents came over the next day and we moved out. We moved all my stuff out
We think that if there was a stranger in the house like the puppy would have been barking. Yeah well
I got her while I lived there
So as far as she knew, that's, that's normal
You know mom goes to work and then dad
Then comes the up. My friend
comes down from the attic and hangs out in place with me.
So when he came in night she didn't park she just like. Oh hey in our next apartment. She made the landlord padlock the attic door
It makes me so nervous now because I lose.
And then things think I've done that like it wait, a second did I drink that did I eat and now
and I'm looking Phoebe, no you're fine, but now I'm really you've. Given us,
All reason to be really worried that no, maybe there is someone in here you don't not- that I want to make everybody paranoid, but
I think you just have to listen to your instincts. I think that's what I have.
Learn from this like
deep down. I knew what was going on, but I didn't trust myself. I you know,
I thought I was just imagining it, but I think it
Since then, I have learned to listen to my instincts and if my instincts are telling me that something is not right, then something's not right. So now do you ever do things like check in the garbage? Can
count how many soup cans there are or no I live. I live with a family,
nothing's ever where it was placed. You know.
I have no idea how many cans of soup I have in the cupboard.
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Transcript generated on 2019-10-31.