It was a terrifying few moments for a 14-year-old in Loma Linda when she came face-to-face with a home intruder.
"He was about to come in and when he saw me he said oops wrong house." Allison Thormahlen said. "(He) closed the door and I locked it and he just left."
Thormahlen's twin sister and 10-year-old brother were upstairs and had no idea what had happened at their home in the 11000 block of Vollmer Drive.
She frantically tried to call her mother, Jennifer Hall-Thormahlen, who had just left the home minutes earlier.
"It's absolutely awful, I don't want anyone else to experience that kind of anxiety," her mother said.
Hall-Thormahlen quickly dialed 911 and remembered seeing a suspicious looking car while driving away from her home.
"I could see the guy looking back and forth and I thought OK maybe he's looking for an address, but it still struck me as odd," she said.
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Hall-Thormahlen regretted not trusting her gut instinct to turn around.
"I was up all night going through what-ifs in my head," she said.
Now, Hall-Thormahlen wants her regret to become a learning lesson for all parents. She believes the intruder got in through an unlocked side gate and then walked into an unlocked side garage door. She wants to remind all parents to lock the doors and to talk to their kids about an emergency plan.
"Do you have a hiding place set up? Do they know they need to call 911 first? I feel like communicating with your family can mean the difference between tragedy and triumph," she said.
The vehicle was described as a dark-colored 1990s Honda Civic or Accord with possible front hood damage.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call 1-800-782-7463.
