University freshman Rachel Reynolds awoke around 5:30 a.m. Friday and saw an unknown intruder hovering over her roommate. She remained calm, and the man fled when he realized he wasn’t the only one awake in the room.
The man trespassed into Spiller Hall in Hamilton Complex, one of the University’s Residence Halls, early Friday morning and entered at least nine unlocked rooms on a women’s floor from about 3 to 6 a.m. The Department of Public Safety will not release any information relating to the case because it is an “ongoing investigation,” but several residents encountered the intruder and reported the incidents to Resident Assistants and DPS the following morning.
The unidentified man was first spotted on the second floor around 3 a.m. The intruder left some doors wide open, and blacked out the peepholes with whiteboard markers on rooms he entered. No students reported any harm or major theft.
Freshman Kristina DiGesu was awake late writing a paper and saw the man – who appeared to be in his early 20s – open her door, peek in and slam it three times within an hour. DiGesu’s male friend quickly looked out into the hall and saw the man run into the bathroom. He offered to investigate, but DiGesu assumed it was another resident’s boyfriend and ignored it.
“You don’t want to get somebody in trouble,” said DiGesu.
Some time later, the man was caught attempting to enter another room. After a freshman opened the door while the intruder jiggled the doorknob, she saw him dart up to the 4th floor.
Freshman Robyn Chavez went to use the restroom and saw the man follow her into the restroom. She left and returned to the restroom 15 minutes later and witnessed him attempting to open multiple doors.
“I assumed it was someone’s boyfriend,” said Chavez.
That was the justification given by most residents for not contacting DPS or a Resident Assistant. DPS officer Robert Guse said his main concern is that several residents saw the man, but not one of them contacted the police.
Girls’ boyfriends frequent the halls late at night and many do not know the other residents, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Chavez said.
Some residents, like Reynolds – the last to encounter the intruder – assumed at first he was a male resident from another floor.
Reynolds awoke while the man was in her fourth floor room at 5:30 a.m. The first time she heard shuffling across the room, she assumed it was her roommate, freshman Kate Spilde. Reynolds looked over and saw someone standing near the bed, and “figured it was just one of the guys from the first floor, just messing around.” She closed her eyes but opened them a few moments later when she heard Spilde moving around in bed. Reynolds saw the man leaning over Spilde with his head very close to hers, staring intently as Spilde slept.
Reynolds stayed still, watching the man to make sure he did not attempt anything dangerous.
“I knew that it was best to not confront the person unless they did something more than just staring,” said Reynolds.
When the man realized he was being watched, he bolted out of the room and, most likely, left the building. Reynolds said he left the room extremely quickly and seemed too alert to be intoxicated. She later discovered that the man had taken her duct tape and used it to cover up the door’s peephole. DPS will obtain her fingerprints in the event that the tape is found, and she will be reimbursed for the theft.
“Initially I kind of assumed that it wasn’t someone from outside our dorm,” Spilde said, “but then once I found out that it wasn’t any one of my friends or anything it kind of took away my sense of safety for sure.”
Although DPS will not comment, the general consensus among Spiller residents is that the intruder was about 5-feet 11-inches, with very short hair and green shorts.
Several residents expressed the need for cameras at Residence Hall entrances, but because of students’ willingness to let anyone into the buildings, some say the residents just need to take responsibility.
“As it stands, the basic concept of our security should work, it’s just based on if the students actually carry it out,” said one University Housing employee. “It definitely varies among students. As a whole most students are very safe … Housing staff has tried to enforce the policy more this year than any other year and make residents acutely aware of how dangerous it can be to let in strangers.”
“I always feel pretty safe here,” said Spilde. “It depends a lot on people so that’s probably where the problem is. I don’t know what else they could do to make us more secure.”
Anyone with further information relating to the incident should contact DPS immediately.
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Residence Hall Intrusion
An unidentified man trespassed into Spiller Hall, part of Hamilton Complex, early Friday morning and entered at least nine rooms on both female floors.
Nobody was harmed and no major theft was reported.
The man was in the hall from about 3 to 6 a.m. and was spotted by several residents, but nobody contacted police or Housing officials.
The man was college-aged with very short hair and green shorts, residents say.
Anyone with further knowledge of the incident should contact the Department of Public Safety immediately.