A Lee County woman is urging her neighbors to lock their doors after waking up to a terrifying sight — a man standing at the foot of her bed in the middle of the night.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office said it happened early Sunday morning at a home on Hidden Harbour Boulevard.
Marlene Wuchevich says her dog’s frantic barking startled her awake around 1:20 a.m.
"I was woken up out of a dead sleep," Wuchevich said. “This man walked through my hallway into my bedroom and stood there, and I said, 'Who are you?' And he told me his name, and he said, 'Do you want me to leave?'”
Wuchevich says instead of exiting the home. He sat quietly in a dark kitchen just outside her room.
"He left the room, but he didn't leave the house until my husband asked him to leave,” Wuchevich said. “He told him to leave, and thankfully, he did.”
Deputies with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office later identified the intruder as 22-year-old Fabrice Auguste. Investigators believe Auguste entered the Wuchevichs’ home through an unlocked front door.
Deputies also received a call about a suspicious man wandering outside a different home in the same neighborhood.
Hours after leaving the Wuchevich home, deputies found Auguste running through nearby yards. When confronted by deputies, Auguste stopped walking, put his hands up, and identified himself. His clothes were soaking wet, and deputies believe he had been swimming in a canal behind the homes.
Auguste was arrested and charged with burglary and loitering/prowling.
The Wuchevichs say the incident has left them shaken, but they are thankful nothing worse happened.
“This is a safe community, but I made the mistake of leaving the door unlocked,” Wuchevich said. “That’s something I’ll never forget again."