Similar incidents of a stranger in bedrooms reported at Saskatoon apartment complex

Saskatoon police are trying to determine if there’s a connection between middle-of-the-night break-ins at the same Forest Grove apartment complex five months apart.

Around 3 a.m. on Sunday, police got two reports about a stranger in the bedrooms of both a woman and a child, just minutes apart. It involved separate suites in the Forest Grove Village at 425 115th St. E.

In one case, a father reported seeing an unknown man in his child’s bedroom. A woman also told police she awoke to a strange man touching her.

Back in September, another woman in the same complex reported being touched in a sexual manner while she was sleeping. Two other apartments were broken into that same month, but no one was home at the time.

No arrests were ever made after the September incidents, according to police spokesperson Alyson Edwards.

“It’s certainly something that (police) are looking into, whether or not there is a connection,” she said, adding the cases are similar even though the witness descriptions are different.

“When people give suspect descriptions, some of that information may not be as accurate as they could be. These are incidents that have occurred at night.”

Edwards said she hasn’t heard any theories of why this specific apartment complex is being targeted.

She said officers are in the process of re-interviewing witnesses and looking for any surveillance tape that might exist. They have also been patrolling the area and advising residents to lock their patio doors, which police say was a common factor in most of the break-ins.

Edwards said it’s also important for neighbours to look out for suspicious activity — and each other.

“We find that in communities where people are familiar with each other, the chances of them becoming a victim of crime are much less.”