in the news
Be safe!
I’m going to post about something that hits close to home - an event that happened in Seattle a few weeks ago with a door-to-door magazine salesman. I just received an email forward written by the victim of this attack. It’s been passed through many friends of friends of friends but it brings it a lot closer reading the story from the victim.
In late August on a Wednesday afternoon, a man in his 20’s came to this woman’s door selling magazine subscriptions. He was very friendly and well dressed. She decided to help him out and bought 2 subscriptions.
Two days later, he came back to her house saying he lost the paperwork and she needed to fill it out again. She was running late but decided to let him in. The last thing she remembers is him coming down the hall at her saying, “I’m sorry.”
He put her in a choke hold and strangled her. She said she knew he was trying to kill her. She awoke 30 minutes later on her back in the bathtub and couldn’t figure out what happened. She saw blood coming from her mouth and head. Her phone was missing so she went outside and found a neighbor to call 911.
These people are all over the place. And while I’m sure most of them are legit, don’t answer the door if you’re not comfortable. This man is on the loose and a local news station said he may be on his way to FL. Here’s the news link if you’re interested in seeing his picture.
Moral of the story…BE SAFE.
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Yup, there are crackpots out there that we’re opening our doors to a little too freely. My neighbor told me her older relative had the same thing happen in a different state. I never open the door to male solicitors anymore, and not to female ones either who look sturdier than me.
I posted an obnoxious no soliciting sign on my house after 2 male solicitors CAME INTO MY BACKYARD to find me when I didn’t answer the door. I was back there w/ my two kids and boy was I LIVID. I told them to get off my property. They were religious solicitors of all things and were nice about leaving. But still. How f++++++ moronic of them. NEVER sneak up on a mother in her own yard when her babies are afoot. NEVER. And to all those horrible people out there who even THINK about taking advantage of women (or the elderly) at home alone - YOU’RE EVIL.
-bm
I hate these stories and love Beast Mom’s comment. They are EVIL.
When I was growing up, my mom would say “Don’t open the door if you don’t know the person. Call mom and she’ll take care of it.”
Now I’m the mom and I don’t want to open the door either. The few times I do, I’ll dial Dan first and tell him what I’m doing so we can be on the phone when I open the door… just in case. It’s a scary world out there.
Now that CJ’s big enough to open the front door by himself we had to have a TALK about never, never EVER opening the door by himself. My worst nightmare is that I’m in the shower, someone knocks, and he innocently opens the door to see who it is. Sigh… sometimes I really hate this world we live in.
We used to have a sign that said “We don’t open the door unless we’re expecting you” so I didn’t feel like I had to HIDE when people would knock. I think it’s time to reinstate it.
Thank you for the info and the link.
I got an email similar to this a while back — but it wasn’t legit. This, sadly, is real and really hits close to home.
Hi all! I just heard on NPR that the “Magazine Salesman Attacker” was arrested in Oregon, leaving a hotel.
Glad they got him. No time for details . . . off to soccer!
Thanks for the link/story. Something like that happened here two years ago, no one got hurt.
I don’t open my door anymore. And I don’t care if people think I’m rude or weird. I tell them I just don’t open the door to strangers. Too bad so sad.
So there.
Soooo yeah.
That was lame. This is the link http://vancouversisters.blogspot.com/2006/02/warning.html
Crap…this scares me. But thanks for sharing. It’s a good reminder to think before we open the door!