• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Stalker at my house

Victory

Pagan Raider
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 14, 2005
1,267
347
Making bad guys nervous
So I’ve had three incidents now and need advice.

First, a friend was staying with us and she heard the dogs go crazy down stairs and heard a male’s voice. She assumed it was me home from work, so no biggie. Wifey comes home, friend asks where I went; wifey informs her I was at work. They freak out because she swears someone was in the house. I come home from work, clear the house, nothing stolen; all the windows in my breezeway are now unlocked and raised about a half inch. Tools in breezeway are all there, nothing else is out of place.

Second, I am at a military school for two weeks. Lots of snow on the ground, and the wifey comes home to large male foot prints walking around the front of the house, and going into the back yard, stopping at the window and breezeway door. There is also a large wool sock on the sidewalk in front of the house. I have her take pictures of the prints for me. I have here track the prints, but they come from the street onto my property and then back off to the street. Once again, nothing is missing, and there were no gas or electric gauges in my back yard to check.

Last night, Wifey wakes me up from sleep around 1400 today yelling at me for smoking in her car. Well I was working last night and haven't smoked in months. I go out to her car, and it reeks of smoke, and there are ashes on the passenger side. Someone got into her car, smoked a cigarette, and ashed all over. She knows it was locked, but it is a ford escape, and has those keyless entry pads on it. I'm assuming it wouldn't be too find the codes on the net if you looked long enough. Maybe she left it unlocked, either way, nothing is stolen, but our privacy has once again been shattered.

So she is freaked out, and I am changing all the house locks, and combos on the garage door.

I need to know what a cheap way to monitor this stuff is. Do you guys have an app that I could watch remote cameras with my phone? Should I get a game cam, and if that works, which one? I don't have a lot of money to buy a 500 dollar plus system.

I want to just build a hide in my upstairs room that overlooks the driveway and set up until I find the fucker, but I have to pay the bills.

So any help would be appreciated.
 
Security camera systems now can have IPs (the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx number that makes each device connecting to the web unique and addressable) so that you can access the feed with a log-in and password. I'm not vouching for the quality of a simple set-up like this, but I'm providing it as an example of what's available: Yugster - Wireless Outdoor Security Camera w/ Motion Detection & Night Vision Here's another: HD Wireless IP Network Surveillance Camera Were it me, I'd be thinking bigger ...

RZaqImY.png
 
Dogs..oldest form of security there is. I had a Dutch Shepherd and nothing got past her. She would sleep in strategic positions in the house so that she would have the best field of view…Her ears were constantly up like radar dishes. Any herding/livestock breed will have a fair amount of natural protective instincts. We currently have Great Pyrenees/Karakachan and they have the loudest bark I've ever heard. It's just a deterrent but I would feel better with a good dog around. In your situation you could consider trail cams as well. I have one's that work on IR so even at night there's no flash. I think you might have a potential serious problem so you need to get on it.
 
I wish something was taken, it would make me feel better. I can deal with a neighbor kid stealing, but this is just weird. I feel like there is a dude beating off to my old lady through my windows while I'm gone. Thankfully she is a combat vet with multiple firefights under her belt in Astan, so if he comes in while she is there, he will catch a couple of controlled pairs from an AR to his chest. Having a newborn at home is making her super edgy about it though. The whole thing is just eating at me.
 
We have two little mutts that work great at letting us know if anyone is at the door or coming inside. Would love to have a Shepard but I can't deal with all that hair, I would go nuts.
 
game cams or security camera's. thats some freaky shit though, hopefully you catch the bastard.
 
i would go with a game cam. at least you have solid evidence and can pursue it with law enforcement if you get something on camera. you can get cameras that send pics isntantly over wi fi but they are pricey and limited to certain carriers.

depending upon whether you have outside animals and critters that frequent your yard i would put up a wireless driveway alarm. you could set it up or multiple of them around your pad and send an alarm/chime off in the house once the beam has been broken. you can get those cheap at harbor freight or the like.
 
I wish it was that easy.

I filed a report with my local PD the second time it happened and filed a supplemental with this one already.
 
I have D-Link cameras all over my house they can be set to take pics and alert you when the motion sensor sees anything and forward it live to your phone! I say D-Link bro!
OOORRR you got aliens, ghosts, zombies, gremlins
OOOORRR you have lost your mind and have no idea where u are or what u did
OOOORRR someone has spiked your food n drink with some crazy mind altering substance.
 
On the locks, door locks and stuff, go to a lock smith. Don't just buy locks and door knob from Walmart. It will cost more but they are way better.

On normal locks the bums are just up and down. On the heavy duty one the tumblers also have to turn. It makes it much harder to pick.
 
If you've filed with the police already, then the next step would be to get a security system installed. Go monitored for sure. It's been a few years since I've dealt with that and had one installed at my home, but it's very much worth the peace of mind and additional layer of security. They may have the camera capability as well and fuck hidden, be in their face. All the time those companies run free install and equipment deals, basically like mobile phones where they give you a great package up front but have a contract with them. Yeah, that kind of sucks but it will get you that additional layer while without dropping a lot of cash into it.

Otherwise, implement some other measures to let this fuckhead know you're watching. Signs, notes, "patrol" your property or call in buddies to do it as well if you're out and about. Have your wife start open carrying around the house and you do it too. Talk to your neighbors and have them part of the game plan. Who knows, they might also be experiencing this guy, or if one of them are the guy themselves they will know you are looking and may back off.
 
Talk to your neighbors and have them part of the game plan. Who knows, they might also be experiencing this guy, or if one of them are the guy themselves they will know you are looking and may back off.

Take it a step further: see if any of them have security cam set-ups with storage covering the date/time of the latest incident, and review if possible. Obsessives focus in and aren't aware of being observed while they're "observing."
 
Im in Oklahoma, don't come stalk me "the Once-ler," I'm getting some cameras.

I have a hunch it is the 30 something dude who lives with his parents across the street.
 
Last edited:
and post a pic of your ol lady if she's hot so we can see if this stalker has legitimate ops going
 
Stalking takes so much energy, not worth it, now a month ago before Nebraska got Internet, that was another story. But this Internet stuff is good stuff.
 
I have a hunch it is the 30 something dude who lives with his parents across the street.

CBU their lawn with lunchbox bags of Cheetos. He'll never make it past the sidewalk.
 
Having worked at a ford dealer for 24 years (independent now). The key pad door codes are not on the Internet unless a previous owner is being a dick and posted it somewhere. It is a 5 digit code (always listed as odd numbers for some reason) 13579 is the same as 24680. Now you can change the code but the factory code is still there and can't be erased. The only way to get rid of the factory code is to change the module (have been told 2013 and newer are not this way). Sometime if it is used alot the numbers will wear on the buttons and you can figure out the numbers used the most and with a few tries figure out the code. Point is if the car was in fact locked you are looking for someone familiar with the car or how to use "slim jim". To retrieve the code it takes some what special software. Both the tools I have that can access that module are over $5,000 And you have to be in the car anyway.
 
Yeah I was back out looking at the car about an hour ago. The rear glass was unlocked, so I'm pretty sure he got in through there. When I first went and checked the other day, it was right before I went to work, and I didn't have time to inspect as close as I would have liked.

Thanks for the info though 2ndamendfan.
 
Your welcome, although I have never worked with someone that did it (that got caught anyway). I have heard stories of a dirt bag or two pulling the code while working on a car and keeping it and the customers personal info (on every repair order ) and saving it for later use. Just thought if your car was ever in the shop it was a possibility.
 
Look up Foscam ip cameras. User friendly and extremely easy to set up. I monitor my home and work anywhere anytime using my iPhone or logging on a computer. There's an app that will alert you instantly if any motion is detected while sending you an email with images. Best money I've spent and I haven't even scratched the surface of what features are available.
 
That's some scary ish. Put double sided tape on inside door handle of car. May be able to get some prints. Or out sign in front if or operate saying "due to cost of ammo, there will be no warning shots."
 
Like most have said, a large dog is a good deterrent. Even if you borrow a friends dog for a couple nights. I had a pit bull and now a big giant sheepdog and nothing gets past him at night. Motion detector lights are also a good deterrent, and are not overly expensive.
A trail or game camera is a good investment and put that up where they won't notice it but it can get a clear pic of their face. Post up shop in your car one night and wait for the douche to come back, then you have the element of surprise.
 
So I’ve had three incidents now and need advice.

First, a friend was staying with us and she heard the dogs go crazy down stairs and heard a male’s voice. She assumed it was me home from work, so no biggie. Wifey comes home, friend asks where I went; wifey informs her I was at work. They freak out because she swears someone was in the house. I come home from work, clear the house, nothing stolen; all the windows in my breezeway are now unlocked and raised about a half inch. Tools in breezeway are all there, nothing else is out of place.

Second, I am at a military school for two weeks. Lots of snow on the ground, and the wifey comes home to large male foot prints walking around the front of the house, and going into the back yard, stopping at the window and breezeway door. There is also a large wool sock on the sidewalk in front of the house. I have her take pictures of the prints for me. I have here track the prints, but they come from the street onto my property and then back off to the street. Once again, nothing is missing, and there were no gas or electric gauges in my back yard to check.

Last night, Wifey wakes me up from sleep around 1400 today yelling at me for smoking in her car. Well I was working last night and haven't smoked in months. I go out to her car, and it reeks of smoke, and there are ashes on the passenger side. Someone got into her car, smoked a cigarette, and ashed all over. She knows it was locked, but it is a ford escape, and has those keyless entry pads on it. I'm assuming it wouldn't be too find the codes on the net if you looked long enough. Maybe she left it unlocked, either way, nothing is stolen, but our privacy has once again been shattered.

So she is freaked out, and I am changing all the house locks, and combos on the garage door.

I need to know what a cheap way to monitor this stuff is. Do you guys have an app that I could watch remote cameras with my phone? Should I get a game cam, and if that works, which one? I don't have a lot of money to buy a 500 dollar plus system.

I want to just build a hide in my upstairs room that overlooks the driveway and set up until I find the fucker, but I have to pay the bills.

So any help would be appreciated.

I echo what others have mentioned. Here is the thing, you have to decide if you want to catch him or deter him. And, how do you know its a guy? The reason I say you have to make up your mind is because putting cams and stuff out like others have said might deter them and it might not. If they are truly stalking you then they might be watching your every move, meaning they will know when and where you are putting stuff out. That makes it much harder to catch them. However, it may be enough for them to move on. Me personally, I would want them caught and arrested otherwise the problem may never go away and it may escalate to something worse than it is. Just my .02 cents. For an added layer of security I do suggest dogs and maybe an alarm such as front point. Front point is cheap and you can do the install yourself and save a ton of money. You are just paying for the monitoring. Good luck and keep us posted.

Oh, if you do want to hang game cams unnoticed then I highly suggest you hanging them at night.
 
... Me personally, I would want them caught and arrested otherwise the problem may never go away and it may escalate to something worse than it is. Just my .02 cents. For an added layer of security I do suggest dogs and maybe an alarm such as front point. Front point is cheap and you can do the install yourself and save a ton of money. You are just paying for the monitoring. Good luck and keep us posted.

Oh, if you do want to hang game cams unnoticed then I highly suggest you hanging them at night.

I see things the same way. Several years ago I had an intruder/stalker problem. They had an uncanny knack for knowing my comings and goings, which was unnerving. I felt warning them off might just make them a little smarter and they would work around things. That could make the situation even more dangerous. So I put up a couple of game cams. Then at night I put a few cameras on those cameras. I set up a few perimeter motion sensors then picked random evenings to park the car far away and approach the house at night through the woods and through a few back yards. It took a while, but sure enough they eventually tripped a motion sensor and I watched as they climbed a few branches to take a camera down, which was being recorded by another camera. They were caught. End of the mystery of who they were, which was quite satisfying.
 
How far apart in time are these incidents? Getting closer? Also why would they be pre-occupied with the breezeway (seems like two incidents related there)?
 
Be very cautious setting any types of traps or devices that may cause injury.
In most states, this is illegal and even if they are legal and you don't have a criminal problem, you WILL have a civil problem.

The game cams are an excellent option, you can post your property no trespassing and at the very least, have a case of criminal trespass with photo evidence.

I'm not certain about your state laws, but you COULD request that the police issue your suspect a criminal trespass warning.
You don't need an excuse or a criminal charge against him, just issue him the CTW.
 
Be very cautious setting any types of traps or devices that may cause injury.
In most states, this is illegal and even if they are legal and you don't have a criminal problem, you WILL have a civil problem.

The game cams are an excellent option, you can post your property no trespassing and at the very least, have a case of criminal trespass with photo evidence.

I'm not certain about your state laws, but you COULD request that the police issue your suspect a criminal trespass warning.
You don't need an excuse or a criminal charge against him, just issue him the CTW.

+1 on this. No where are booby traps legal. And an emergency responder could wind up the victim. Probably didn't need to say (repeat) this, but just in case...
 
Last edited:
That's crazy. The wife and I just got married and moved into our house a few months back. I ordered a safe when I bought house for my stuff....and it finally came in couple weeks back. Been waiting for it to be delivered for 2 weeks now, and go figure last Saturday right before I was getting ready to leave for a shoot we noticed someone had tried to get into one of our windows on the back out our house. Everything was locked, but screen was pushed up where they tried to come in. Not a good feeling, especially as your getting ready to leave for the night. I have been kicking around idea of security system, it would give me piece of mind and definitely would my old lady.

Im interested to hear if you catch this piece of shit
 
I'd say something along the lines of 'ensure that you don't leave any old/ragged extension cords laying around, or anything like that'. because you wouldn't want anyone to hurt themselves or anything. And make sure that your fish-hook drying racks are put away and cared for, as you wouldn't want anyone to get tangled up in those leaders.
 
I recently had a security system installed from ADT.

Problems with the setup occurred right away, as the exterior camera can't be set to motion detector because shadows and tree branches would continually set it off, and the interior camera would be the same since the cat would set it off. The alarms were designed to also take digital video and send them to the phone app if triggered. The phone would blow up constantly with leaves blowing on the front porch.

It was also on the expensive side, despite a discount. About $650 plus $58 per month.

I agree with what everyone else here has said--get the game cams.

The ADT system I purchased is giving me a serious dose of buyer's remorse.
 
Might also consider getting a small thermal scope so you can check out the property at night beyond the point of where you need to be to trigger a motion detection light. Don't need anything expensive (gen 1) as you only need to make out human size heat sigs at 100 yards or less. I looked at one a few months back for 175 bucks as I have critters coming through my fence line and walking up to the back of the house at night and my cats go ape shit (my rotty died of cancer or I would have let him loose). Nice to look around at night sometimes when you get that "feeling" that something may be out there so you need to check to calm the nerves.
 
Excellent suggestion on the NV/IR. You might just catch his movement when he thinks no one can see.
 
I agree, thermal AND night vision! Wait, that may have something to do with the fact that I sell thermal and night vision (with a veterans discount, and an additional CIB discount, just sayin ;) )
Anyways, there is no place around my house where you can go without being on at least one camera, and I have motion detectors in the driveway. It has saved my family a lot of grief several times! Do it, you wont regret it. They were really not that expensive at all either. When I left on vacation, I took old road flares that you couldn't read the lettering on (looked like a stick of dynamite), stuffed some wires in them, then ran them into the back of an old garage door sensor that was electrical taped to it, then ran a couple more into the house through the crack in the doors. So, it looked like I put IED's on each door. The thought was that it would sketch someone out enough that they wouldn't go through the windows either for fear of what surprises were inside.
Anyways, it worked, just not on the right person. The UPS man has a key to my mud room so he can put packages I there when I am gone. I forgot about him. He called and was worried that he was going to get blown up.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, my cameras record to a dvr that is in the safe, and a play constantly on a TV in a closet in the living room so we can check any time to see what is going on. Far better than a game cam.
 
If these incidents are close together and obvious..... has there been and security companies in the neighborhood trying to sell plans? Maybe drumming up some business?

You have gotten some solid advice on security systems. I would take your wife to the rifle range and run a couple rounds through the home defense guns. My wife gets a refresher before I leave town and she regularly shoots the glocks and 1911s.
 
I liked the punji pits with stakes. Put little bells on them so you know when he goes in and keep the Bobcat warmed up and ready to fill in the holes.
 
Would love to have a Shepard but I can't deal with all that hair, I would go nuts.

That thought wouldn't be on my radar if I was dealing with what you have going on at your house right now. You have no clue who is coming in your home, I would think worst case scenario and that lives are in danger. I wouldn't be able to sleep or leave my wife and kid at home with this going on. I would try to secretly get a dog that didn't bark and just ate strangers on site but that's not too attainable especially short notice. I would probably have a friend sneak in the house with me during my ride home from work then have him drive off in my truck when I usually leave for work and I'd be waiting inside to do bad things to the psychopath coming in my home when he thinks I'm gone. I would use all my vacation and do this until I caught him if at all possible. I hope for you and your family that this all ends in a way you can live with and soon. Good luck man, seriously