Florida family finds muddy stranger hiding in attic

A Florida family woke up on Thursday morning to find that a mud-covered stranger had barricaded himself in their laundry room and crawled into their attic.

>> Read more trending stories

The intruder who left a muddy smear on the side of the house appeared to have climbed the Bryan family’s fence in Jacksonville and barricaded himself in their laundry room, authorities said.

Samuel Bryan made the discovery when he went to take his laundry out of the dryer Thursday morning.
“This vacuum cleaner was over here, like this, behind the door, and then this broom was propped up against the door,” he said.
He noticed mud and bloodstains on the washing machine and then saw that someone had ripped off a wood panel on the ceiling that covered a hole leading to the attic.

Worried that someone might have squeezed through the opening, he called 911.
Officers entered the area with guns drawn and ordered anyone inside to come out.  They said a mud-covered man shimmied out.

“I followed him around to the car because I wanted to see what kind of monster this was that would come into someone’s home,” homeowner Leon Bryan said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office identified the intruder as 28-year-old Marcus Andrew Hull.
“He looked at me, and he apologized. He goes, ‘Sir, I’m sorry for everything.’ And I asked him what he was doing. He said he was running for his life, that there were people after him trying to kill him, and he just chose my place for a hideout,” Leon Bryan said. “I did let him know that it’s a good thing the police got him first, because if I would have seen him first, it would have been bad.”
The sheriff’s report said Hull told a detective that he’d been doing drugs.
Hull was arrested in 2012 on drug charges in Duval County. He pleaded guilty, but participated in a pretrial intervention program instead of facing a sentence.
“You need to get your life straight. Find Jesus,” Samuel Bryan said.
Hull faces a burglary charge.

About the Author