HOUSTON – A Houston woman on her way to work skidded to a stop, terrified but unhurt after she noticed a stranger sitting directly behind her in the backseat of her car.
"I just felt fear, and I just happened to look into my rearview mirror and I saw someone sitting in my backseat," Jacquelyn Gilder said.
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Houston police theorize the intruder may have slipped into her car as she sat idle at the bottom of her driveway on July 31, about 5 a.m. Gilder lives in the Park North subdivision in northeast Houston, not far from Tidwell Road and Wayside Drive.
"It's very scary and quite unusual that we have this type of incident occur," veteran Houston Police Detective Greg Shelton said.
After the car came to a stop, both the man and Gilder ran out of the car. The man disappeared.
Gilder said the man, who was wearing a hoodie with his face partially obscured, never made his intention clear.
Gilder said the man did grab her for a brief moment.
There are no official suspects in the case, but Gilder believes a man labeled "a person of interest" by police, and who is considered a neighborhood drifter may be responsible.
"I had him mow my grass a few times," the medical assistant told KPRC2.
"Am I 100 percent sure that's the person? No, I'm not and that's why we're waiting on the DNA to hopefully clear that one up," Shelton said.
Police have not publicly released what item they are testing for a DNA match, but the same morning, a window at Gilder's home was broken.
If you have information about the incident, call Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS. Tipsters remain anonymous and can earn up to $5,000.