College student thought ghost was in apartment; finds man in closet wearing her clothes
Posted: Feb 5, 2019 / 01:09 PM CST / Updated: Feb 5, 2019 / 01:09 PM CST
GREENSBORO, N.C. (CNN) – "Creepy" doesn't even begin to describe a story out of North Carolina.
Two female college students say intruders kept breaking into their apartment but they had no idea how. Then one student came face-to-face with an intruder, in her closet.
"Since I've been having like pieces of clothes missing. Like shirts, pants, etc.," Maddie, break-in victim, said.
Items kept disappearing and prints were left behind.
"I have a hand print on my bathroom wall and on my mirror."
It wasn't until Saturday that Maddie, a junior at UNCG, uncovered a mystery she and her roommates thought was a ghost.
"I just hear rattling in my closet. It sounds like a raccoon in my closet. Put my hand on the knob and I'm like 'who's in here' and somebody answers me. He's like 'oh, my name is Drew.' I open the door and he's in there wearing all of my clothes – my socks, my shoes, and has a book bag full of my clothes."
Police say that man was 30-year-old Andrew Swofford. He appeared via video conference from the Guilford County Jail.
"He had these pants on, like, actually on his body."
Maddie called her boyfriend and as she calmly waited for help, she talked with Swofford to keep him distracted.
"He tries on my hat, goes in my bathroom and looks in the mirror and then he asked like 'you're really pretty, can I hug you?' But he never touched me."
The big question the girls are trying to get answered how he got inside. They say their doors are always locked and they did not see any damage to them.
What really scares the girls is that men have entered their apartment before.
"It was two guys in the living room."
That was Dec. 19.
The girls alerted the leasing office and an employee confirmed they changed the locks at that time but did not file a police report. That is standard protocol, according to the leasing office.
Maddie and her roommate say they can't take it anymore.
"Last night, I did not feel safe. I slept with my roommate in her bed. I can't stay here. My closet, it stinks, I don't like, every time I go in there it's like 'ugh.' It's a bad vibe. That's why I'm ready to just leave."
Swofford faces 14-felony charges, including larceny and identity theft. His bond was set at $26,000.
Property managers are still investigating how he, and the other two men, got inside the apartment.
More Weird Stories
by ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press / Jul 17, 2019
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A fisherman said on Wednesday he was looking for the author of a message in a bottle found off the southern Australian coast 50 years after it was written.
Paul Elliot told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he and his son Jyah found the bottle on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia state while fishing.
California officers reunite 250-pound tortoise with owners
SANTA YNEZ, Calif. (AP) — A 250-pound tortoise that wandered away from its home has been rescued after California Highway Patrol officers found it on the side of a road.
And no, they didn't arrest it for speeding.