DURHAM – A young girl caused a stir early Thursday morning when she ran to the neighbor’s house and reported her family dead and two strangers in the house.
State police and other local departments descended upon 54 Sopher Road just after 5 a.m. to find everyone fine and no sign of a break-in.
“We dispatched a team of troopers to the area and cautiously approached the house and quickly made the discovery the call was bogus,” said Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland. “There was no intruder. This was the vivid imagination of a young girl.”
Homeowner Donna Kitrell said she stands by her daughter, 7-year-old Leona, when she said that there were strangers in the house.
“I believe her, I totally believe,” Kitrell said. “I am going to buy new locks for the kitchen door today.”
Kitrell, her boyfriend and three other children were home at the time. She said Leona was sleeping on the couch when she woke up to see two men she didn’t recognize. She ran to the house next door.
“I told her that there’s some people in the house,” Leona repeated later Thursday morning. “I thought they were dead because (the intruders) went in the room.”
Kitrell said she woke up to find her daughter missing and the police scanner in her home busy with unusual traffic. The phone started ringing: “It was my son’s friend wondering what was going on.”
Police are not investigating the potential of a break-in, according to McCausland, although police believe the child’s fear was real.
“It was not a prank. I could see the fear in the girl’s eyes, and the description she gave of the supposed intruder matched her brother,” said State Trooper Keith Frank.
Freelancer Connie Footman contributed to this report.
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