Teenager comes face-to-face with burglar in Kent

A teenager, who was home alone, escaped after finding a stranger in their Kent apartment on Thursday.

“I started shaking immediately, but I tried not to make it known,” said Aphmau.

It was a tense feeling that 16-year-old Aphmau will never forget when they realized they were no longer home alone.

“I look to the side of me and I see this short girl ‘yay high’ and she stares at me and goes ‘oh my god you look just like me,” they explained.

Standing on their balcony was a woman Aphmau had never seen before.

“I was terrified and she was just like, closer and closer and I was like ‘no thank you.’ And then she dragged me and grabbed me right here by my arm and she grabbed me and took me to the bathroom,” said Aphmau.

Aphmau told KIRO 7 the woman seemed unstable and was convinced she lived there. They even found her rummaging through their stuff.

“I was freaking out. This whole time I’ve been shaking like a leaf and I didn’t know what to do. When I’m anxious, I nervously giggle. I was like hahaha ok,” they said.

At that moment, the only thing Aphmau could do was play along.

“I just went along with it because that was my best chance of getting out unharmed. If I just went with it,” said the teen.

It didn’t end there. Aphmau told KIRO 7 they were sexually harassed by the suspect and blocked from leaving.

“We have a shoe rack and she had that against the door and we have a chain and she wrapped something around the chain,” Aphmau added.

After waiting it out for a few minutes, Aphmau ran to her friend’s unit for help.

“My friend came banging on the door saying that her house had gotten broken into,” said Jailyn Vinson.

Vinson noticed her friend, Aphmau, was distressed and immediately called 911.

“So I had to explain to the operator what was going on. We waited about 15 minutes and then the police started to arrive,” Vinson said.

In the same apartment complex, the woman showed up again while they were talking to the police.

“They look at me and they’re like, is that her? And I look at her, and go that’s her.”

The woman was put into handcuffs, bringing some closure to Aphmau.

But for the teen’s father who was at work, it was a nightmare turned reality.

“As a dad, you don’t want to assume the worst but you have to prepare for the worst,” said Jessie Ramsey.

Ramsey is grateful for his kid’s quick thinking to get out safely.

“Anything can happen at any time. Always take the time to do that double check, that safety double check,” he added. “Just makes sure everything is buttoned down the way it needs to be. Because that one time you do miss can be that one time.”

The suspect was booked on a burglary charge in King County Jail. She is being held on $30,000 bail.