Police arrest naked man living in crawl space of California home
Weird Noises Lead to Shocking Discovery in California Home
For weeks, a 93-year-old grandmother living in her Els Serena home had been hearing strange noises, mostly at night. At first, it was dismissed as animals – possums, raccoons, or similar creatures – scurrying under the house. But Thursday night, the sounds grew louder and more concerning. Her son-in-law, Ricardo Silva, remembers it vividly: “The noises were kind of like knocking. It was like, as my wife was walking, they were kind of knocking back from under the under the house.”
Concerned, the family members at the home called the police. Officers arrived to investigate and were shocked by what they found. A naked 27-year-old man, later identified as Isaac Benen Court, was hiding in the crawl space under the house.
Despite the dogs present, Court refused to leave the crawlspace, and after two unsuccessful attempts to persuade him using gas, police had to resort to tear gas to extract him from his hideout. The ordeal took hours, leaving the authorities and the family stunned by the bizarre scene.
As investigators pieced together what happened, it became clear that Court had been occupying the crawlspace – only about 2 ft high and stretching under the entire home with three entryways – for an estimated six months. The family believes he used one of these entryways to come and go unnoticed.
“We’re just lucky that my mother-in-law was listening and didn’t ignore those noises,” Silva said in an interview. “You never know what could be lurking under your home.”
