Jogger known as 'The Mad Pooper' keeps pooping on sidewalk in Colorado Springs

Her kids saw it first: A woman, pants around ankles, defecating before the Budde family's Colorado Springs home.

Then it happened again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Each week brings a fresh pile of excrement to the sidewalk in front of Cathy Budde's home, she told local station KKTV — at least seven so far.

Budde calls her "The Mad Pooper." Police remain baffled. The family feels helpless to stop her.

"I came outside, and I was like ... 'Are you serious?'" Budde said of the time she caught the woman, a jogger, in the act. "'Are you really taking a poop right here in front of my kids?' She's like, 'Yeah, sorry!'"

Then the woman jogged away. She leaves only confusion, and also the paper towels that she wipes with.

Even in a world wrought with senseless violence, the Mad Pooper's antics astonish. There's a portable toilet at nearby John Venezia Community Park. A gas station not far from that.

So then why? Why the Budde family? And why now?

These questions haunt Colorado Springs residents, and the officers sworn to protect them.

"For someone to repeatedly do such a thing ... it's uncharted territory for me," Sgt. Johnathan Sharketti of the Colorado Springs Police Department told KKTV.

What's worse: The crimes may have no pattern.

The Mad Pooper left her calling card at a Walgreens and backyards in the area, according to Deadspin, which confirmed the story with local police.

The woman could face charges of indecent exposure and public defecation for indecently exposing herself and publicly defecating, police told KKTV.

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

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