The Medford Police Department says that it has identified a man suspected of breaking into a woman’s house while she was home last January.
“In January of 2019, a female in East Medford awoke to someone standing in her bedroom, just about everyone’s worst nightmare,” MPD posted on Tuesday. “The male fled, but was able to steal her cell phone.”
The case went unsolved for months, the agency said, but now investigators have identified the suspect as 23-year-old Elijah Zachery Bendell — a transient known to camp around town, and known to use heroin.
“Please keep an eye out,” MPD said. “Thank you.”
Bendell is described as standing five-foot ten-inches tall, and weighing 125 pounds. MPD said that the case serves as a good reminder to keep your doors and windows secured at all times.
A similar case occurred in the fall of 2019, when a woman living in the 900-block of Siskiyou Boulevard reported hearing someone walking down her hallway in the early hours of the morning. While the woman called her boyfriend, the suspect apparently escaped through a window without taking anything.