Police in Los Angeles detained a man who was hiding under the floor of a house in the El Sereno district. A 93-year-old woman living in this house had been hearing sounds coming from under the building for months, but she notified the police only when they became louder and resembled knocks.
The 93-year-old woman, who lives alone in El Sereno, a Los Angeles neighborhood, “has been telling her family for several months that she hears noises coming from outside her house,” CNN reported on Friday. The elderly woman decided to call the police only after she heard the sounds of blows coming from under the floor on Thursday around 9 p.m.
Naked man under the building
Officers arrived at the scene and found a naked man under the floor of the building. As the 93-year-old woman's grandson told KCAL News, the man refused to leave for several hours. Therefore, approx. At 4:30 a.m., police finally used tear gas to force him to leave. The naked man was identified as 27-year-old Issac Betancourt. Los Angeles police said he was arrested for trespassing on private property.
The 93-year-old's grandson said that the officers found blankets and food under the building and they suspected that the detainee came at night and left in the morning so as to remain unnoticed. Ricardo Silva, the 93-year-old's son-in-law, was quoted by NBC News as saying that “usually” the sounds came from under the floor “late at night, so we blamed the animals under the house.” However, Silva noted that the sounds heard last Thursday were louder. “They were like knocking,” he said.
Los Angeles. The house of a 93-year-old woman, under which a 27-year-old man was foundCNN
Technical space under the house
The space between the ground and the floor of the house where the 27-year-old was found is a technical space defined in USA as “crawlspace”, from the word “crawl”, which means “crawling”. According to the 93-year-old's family, it was less than 60 cm high under her house. Similar free spaces are located under many buildings in the USA – this is a common solution that allows access to their installations.
Main photo source: CNN