Woman's dogs alert her to intruders in house, leading to their arrest

WOODHAVEN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Downriver woman calls 911 with intruders inside her house - and thanks to a quick police response, the suspects were nabbed before they could get away.

The 911 call was made at about 7 this morning with a woman telling police she was the victim of a break-in and the thieves were still in the house. 

"I woke up this morning to footsteps figuring it was my family getting ready to leave for school and work," she said.

Just a few minutes after this woman's mom and dad left their home on the 25000 block of Reeck Road, two people allegedly forced their way in through a bedroom window. 

"I'm guessing they were watching the house and thought everyone was gone and I wasn't," she said.

She was in her room, which happens to be in the basement. The first clue that things weren't right came from her dog Peanut.

"When I heard my dogs barking, it hit home that something signaled to me that something was not right," she said. "I was going to walk upstairs, but thank God I didn't."

Instead she called Woodhaven police about a mile and half away. 

"I'm glad they stayed on the phone because I was panicked," she said. "I was a wreck."

With police on the way the thieves got spooked and ran, leaving a trail of their misdeeds behind. 

"They tried taking our 55-inch TV from my old bedroom and when they put it on the bed they put a hole in the wall," she said. "They tried getting away with clothes and shoes and my brother's PS4. They didn't make it past the window with that stuff."

The burglars wouldn't get much further than that. Police set up a perimeter and as the criminals attempted to cut through yards, they were eventually caught. 

The suspects were two men in their 20s with multiple warrants out for their arrest.  They are off the street thanks in part to a woman who kept her cool and listened to her instincts. 

"Do what you think is right," she said. "It was a gut feeling that hit me - and I usually never go with my feeling."

Right now the two men are being held here at the police station waiting for their court date.  Police say this was a random act. likely just a crime of opportunity, luckily no one was hurt.