A peeping Tom has residents on River Road nervous to set foot out their front doors.
In the past three weeks, a rash of incidents has caused concern among people like Samantha Milton, who Wednesday, around 10:45 p.m., noticed someone had opened her gate and gone into her back yard.
She knew someone was in her yard because the motion detectors came on.
"He took a barbecue grill from my yard and placed it at my neighbor's back window," said Milton.
Milton's neighbor, Marilyn Bryant, was in her bedroom toward the back of the house when she heard a noise outside.
"I then saw a shadow on the outside of the house because my blinds were partially open," said Bryant.
"I screamed, and I saw him run to the right side of my house, but I lost track of him. I then called Milton to let her know what was going on," Bryant said.
Both women called the police.
Said Bryant, "The police told me right away that it must be a peeping Tom because they had received calls from other residents several blocks away from River Road that same night."
Greenwood Police Chief Henry Harris said authorities have a description of the suspect but no names to place with the description.
"He appeared to have stood up on the grill to look through my window," Bryant added, "I knew someone had to have been standing on the grill, because when I came out to look at it later, the grill was broken."
The police searched the River Road area but could not find the suspect.
The motion detectors did not keep the peeping Tom from returning.
"Later on that evening, the guy returned. He took a white lawn chair from my neighbor's house to the right of me," said Milton.
"He then placed the chair at my daughter's window. My daughter heard a noise.
"She yelled and told me she heard a noise outside of her window," said Milton.
Then, the third time, around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Bryant got up to look out the window. She saw a white lawn chair outside of her other bedroom window. It hadn't been there earlier.
"I called the police again to let them know the peeping Tom had returned," said Bryant.
Some neighbors say the suspect is tall, dark-skinned and bald. Police have asked people in the neighborhood not to touch any evidence.
Officers returned Thursday evening to lift footprints from the lawn chair and the barbecue grill.
Bryant doesn't think this was the first incident near her home.
"Last Thursday, I noticed that my gate was open and my cooler was missing from its normal spot.
"Later that evening, I found the cooler was at my bedroom window," said Bryant.
Bryant and Milton said that police have been patrolling their area for the past three weeks.
"These incidents are nerve-wrecking," said Milton. "My daughter is very scared. She now sleeps on a mattress in my room on the floor and wants to have a butcher's knife next to her in order to feel safe."
Sgt. Dennis Mitchell, the domestic violence officer for the police department, wants people along River Road to organize and become aware of what's happening.
People need to pay attention to their surroundings, he advised. They need to watch out for one another and report any suspicious activity.
