Lindsay Dill, a junior at Point Park University in South Oakland, Pennsylvania, was staying up late to finish homework. Shortly after midnight while she was in her living room doing school work, a man opened the door to her home and, uninvited, walked inside. Dill recalled, “I looked up and there was this big black guy standing there, his hands in his pockets.” Unsure of what to do, she tried not to panic.
The man, later identified as Kymarr Freeman, asked if Jamal was there. Dill told reporters, “I just looked at him shaking my head. I have no idea who he was talking about.” Before leaving, Freeman asked Dill about marijuana and told her not to mention what had happened to anyone.
At 1:30 a.m. Dill received a call from her next door neighbor. They had just been robbed. One roommate had been asleep in his room and the other two roommates had been upstairs when the burglar snuck in. The burglar stole a television and slipped back out of the home, unnoticed. Cray Thomas, also a junior at Point Park University, said, “I can’t believe this happened to us.”
Freeman is the main suspect for the burglary. Other students have also come forward with information on Freeman. Emily Westfield, who lives close to Thomas and Dill, said that a few weeks ago, a man she and her roommate did not know knocked on her door asking for Jamal. In an interview, she said, “When we heard about the other robbery with the name Jamal used, we immediately remembered what happened with us.” Four other students have similar stories.
Detective John Mihalcin, who is investigating the burglary, said that this is not uncommon. “Usually, [the potential burglar] knocks on the door to see if someone is there,” he said. When someone answers the door, the burglar asks for a specific person so that it will seem like he simply knocked on the wrong door.
Detective Mihalcin continued to say, “It’s common for people to leave their doors unlocked in Oakland” because college roommates leave their doors unlocked for each other. Mihalcin encourages everyone, especially students, to lock their doors and windows at all times.
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