Winchester woman finds intruder hiding in closet; suspect runs away, yelling, ‘I’m sorry’

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

A Winchester woman returned home after shopping Friday afternoon and found a man attempting to burglarize her house hiding in her closet, police said.

“She went out for about an hour,” said Winchester Police Lieutenant Daniel O’Connell. “She came back home, saw the back door was ajar, but didn’t think too much of it.”

O’Connell said the woman thought she had heard something on the second floor, so she stopped to listen, but didn’t hear anything further.

The woman had some clothes she wanted to put away. When she opened the closet door, she found a man sitting there.

“He pulled up his shirt to cover his face,” O’Connell said. “They both screamed, so she ran out of the house, and he ran out after her.”

The man ran past her, yelling, “I’m sorry,” and continued down Hillcrest Parkway toward Highland Avenue, O’Connell said.

“He was probably scared of being seen,” he said. Winchester and State Police set up patrols in the area but did not find anyone. O’Connell believes that someone may have been waiting in a vehicle for him.

The woman was uninjured in the incident but was shaken, O’Connell said. A pair of $500 earrings was the only thing missing from her house, the woman told police.

It was the second time in nearly two months that the woman had been robbed, he said.

O’Connell said the area has had a significant number of break-ins in the past month and are working on some leads as to who is responsible for them.

“Many think that these don’t happen in Winchester, but they do,” O’Connell said. “Keep your doors locked, and if you have alarms, put them on. They are no good if you’re not using them.”

Winchester police asked anyone with information to call 781-729-1214.