CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — Tanya Cecka was on vacation in California when she got an alert on her phone. Her doorbell security camera showed a man walk up to the front door of her home in Salmon Creek.
"I looked at the guy, saw his picture and didn't think anything of it," Cecka said.
But the man ended up breaking into her home — and she wasn't his only target.
The security footage showed the man disappear. Cecka and police believe he made his way to the back of the home.
"It looks like he started with this sliding glass door up here. Took a crowbar to it," she said, pointing to visible damage to her sliding glass door.
She pointed out damage to another sliding glass door.
"He moved on to that one next, there's some crowbar marks. Must have gotten frustrated up here and went downstairs," Cecka said, referring to the backyard patio with windows that lead to the lower level of her home.
The break-in happened on May 7 around 9:23 a.m. The man was wearing a blue shirt and a hat, and had a paper in hand.
"Looks like he has paper like he's trying to offer some type of service or sell something, and if nobody's home, makes his way to the back of the residence," said Sgt. Chris Skidmore with the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
The 40-second security video shows the man approach and knock on Cecka's front door. Then he walks away and appears to talk with someone in the driveway for a few seconds before walking back to the front door and knocking again.
Five minutes later, Cecka got an alert on her phone, notifying her that a window had been breached. She believes the man smashed her window and went inside.
"He was in the house — don't like that — but he couldn't get into the main house," Cecka said, referencing the fact that her lower level was locked off from the upper levels of the home.
Cecka and her husband thought he might still be inside, so they called the Clark County Sheriff's Office. Deputies showed up with a K-9 unit and searched the house, but did not find anyone inside.
"Just angry. Just really angry," Cecka said. "You start to feel like you're targeted."
The man had done the same thing to a house the day before in Camas. The Camas Police Department shared photos on Facebook showing the same man with a hat in blue clothing and holding a paper. Camas police said he stole an armful of items from the home.
After the man broke into Cecka's house in Salmon Creek, another house a few blocks away was also broken into, Skidmore said. That time, someone was home.
"(The) person was actually home and just didn't answer their door, and so she confronted them and they left hastily," Skidmore said.
Cecka is looking into making her house safer.
"We're gonna be upping everything," she said.
Police believe the man drives a a silver or white sedan with a woman that appears to be the same age.
Anyone with information about the man is asked to call the Clark County Sheriff's Office or Camas police.
