A terrified Perham woman discovered a strange man with a knife standing in the kitchen of her home at 4 a.m. on Friday, January 25.
According to police records, the woman woke up around 4 a.m. to let her dogs outside. After putting the dogs in an outdoor kennel, the woman went back into her house in northeast Perham to fire up a woodstove in the basement.
Upon returning upstairs, she found a man standing in her kitchen. The woman reportedly screamed at the intruder to get out of her house, asking what he wanted. The male party is then alleged to have started waving a knife at the woman, telling her to "come here."
The woman then grabbed her phone and dialed 911, as the suspect came at her again, waving the knife and demanding that she come to him. According to the police report, she dropped the phone and started to run upstairs as the suspect fell down the basement stairs. The man then ran out of the house.
Shortly after the suspect fled the home, Perham Police Officer Dave Wiebe responded on scene. The Otter Tail County Sheriff's Department provided assistance and a four-block perimeter was established.
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A K-9 unit also responded to the scene and the dog was able to trace the scent of the suspect to just west of Primera Egg. The dog then lost the scent. A truck driver in the Primera Egg vicinity reported seeing a man matching the suspect's description fleeing the area a short time before police arrived.
The description of the intruder that the victim gave officers is as follows: a white male between the ages of 17 and 25, young looking, and about 5'6" to 5'8" tall. The suspect was wearing a gray stocking hat with a dark band across the front of it and a red winter coat.
He is reported to have been wearing small, round, wire glasses. He is believed to have had brownish colored hair. The suspect was also carrying a knife which the victim was unable to describe.
This case remains open pending further investigation.
