'We need to get out of here': Midland family encounters intruder

Ari Parsons, left, and Ryan Gerulski, right, pose for a portrait in the backyard of their home on the 1000 block of Elizabeth Street on Wednesday in Midland. The couple awoke around 4:30 a.m. on Friday when Ari’s 9-year-old daughter told them there was a man in her bedroom. The man then exited through the second-story window, jumped to the ground and fled. (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net) less Ari Parsons, left, and Ryan Gerulski, right, pose for a portrait in the backyard of their home on the 1000 block of Elizabeth Street on Wednesday in Midland. The couple awoke around 4:30 a.m. on Friday when ... more Photo: Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net Photo: Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close 'We need to get out of here': Midland family encounters intruder 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

For months, a Midland couple chalked up their children’s claims of seeing a man’s face in their window and a man standing by their bed and talking to them as just childhood imaginations.

But that changed last week at 4:30 a.m. Friday.

“It was never that we didn’t believe them, we just could never find anything,” said the girls’ mother’s boyfriend, Ryan Gerulski. “Honestly, we just didn’t know what to think.”

That was until a man entered a 9-year-old’s second story room in a house in the 1000 block of Elizabeth Street on Friday morning. He told the child he would give her money if she didn’t tell her parents he was there.

But the suspect was outsmarted.

The child reportedly told the man she didn’t want his money, she had to go to the bathroom. The child’s mother, Ari, said her daughter then came downstairs and woke her and Gerulski.

Gerulski immediately went upstairs, checked the child’s room and shut her window. Then went to the girl’s 15-year-old sister’s room. Finding nothing, he went back downstairs where he heard thumping.

Gerulski said he ran outside and found a man on the slant of his roof. The man jumped from the roof and ran. Gerulski gave chase and was right on his tail when the suspect began jumping fences. He ran back to the house to make sure everyone was OK at which time Ari was already on the phone with 911.

“I thought it was a nightmare,” Ari said. “You don’t think what you see on TV is happening at your house.”

Midland Police arrived, began looking for the man along with a K-9, said Midland Police Sgt. Chris Wenzell. He said the trail went cold a block away.

“We are taking this seriously,” he added, noting it is not a common crime in the city. “Detectives and officers are working diligently.”

He said authorities are looking into different tips and processing evidence from the crime scene.

Wenzell encourages residents there is nothing wrong with calling police when they see something suspicious and for neighbors to look out for one another.

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The 9-year-old described the man as tall, brown hair, a neck beard and was wearing an orange shirt.

Among the findings, police found the children’s underpants had holes cut out and they were stashed under the girls’ beds. The man also left behind a pair of scissors in the older girl’s bed. Ari believes when the 9-year-old left her room, the man went to the older girl’s room, where he left the scissors behind.

“He took the pieces like they were trophies,” Gerulski said.

For Ari, things became eye-opening.

“After all this, so much makes sense,” Ari said.

She recalls her older daughter saying a man came into her room and said it was OK, and that he went to school with her. Both girls described a man staring at them through their bedroom windows. Since the incident, Gerulski said the older girl now knows she wasn’t dreaming — or going crazy.

Gerulski and Ari agree, both girls are surprisingly calm and trying to cope with the events.

However, the girls weren’t the suspect’s only target.

Ari recalls multiple events that she believed was just her being half asleep or dreaming. She recalled a man coming toward her while she was sleeping, thinking it was her boyfriend — only to learn it wasn’t him. A time of waking to find the bedroom window wide open and the screen out and chalking it up to the cat doing it.

She also recalls how one of her daughters used to have chunks of hair cut off. Ari thought the girl was going through a phase and questioned where the scissors were.

“He had to be stalking us to be so comfortable in the house,” Ari said. “He’s a psychopath. I just don’t feel safe here. I’m 100 percent positive he’s been lurking and getting to know our schedule.

“I could arm this house with guns, dogs and protection devices,” she added, “but my children and I would never feel safe here again.

“We’ve lost our sense of security and we can’t get that back,” Ari said, “not even in a new place.”

Ari and the children have only returned to the house for brief moments and have been temporarily staying elsewhere. However, they boarded up the upstairs windows and the stairway leading to it.

Both adults believe the man is in the area and has been in their house multiple times. Even standing outside Wednesday, Ari said he could be watching them.

“How many times has he come in? Ari asked. “He obviously feels comfortable in the house.”

Despite planning to move, Gerulski is making efforts to start a Neighborhood Watch. He doesn’t want another family to experience the same ordeal.

The family is planning on moving from the house they’ve rented for almost three years. Ari said she and the children don’t feel safe.

“I can't expect my kids to ever feel comfortable in the rooms that was once theirs. No matter what lengths we go to, to ensure our safety, an alarm system, protection of a gun, a dog. ... It just will never feel like the warm, cozy, once thought safe home again.”

“We need to get out of here as soon as possible,” Ari said.

She has set up a fundraiser at https://www.facebook.com/donate/555244544906000.