A California household got an unsettling surprise after a puzzling pattern began in their garage: groceries kept vanishing from the refrigerator, and no one in the home knew why.
The Manhattan Beach homeowners first suspected something was off when food items repeatedly went missing without explanation. Unable to figure out where everything was going, they contacted the Manhattan Beach Police Department for help.
What officers found when they arrived was far from an ordinary break-in. According to police, the family had unknowingly been sharing part of their property with an unexpected person hiding out in the garage.
In a social media update, the Manhattan Beach Police Department said food had been disappearing from a refrigerator kept inside the garage of a local residence. Officers later discovered a person living in the space and took him into custody.
Following the strange incident, authorities urged residents to keep garages locked and secure, and to pay attention to anything unusual happening around their homes.
Police confirmed the suspected squatter was arrested, but they did not release his name or say how long he may have been staying inside the garage.
A photo posted by police showed the suspect standing with his hands cuffed behind his back. The bizarre Manhattan Beach garage discovery quickly sparked reactions online, with social media users weighing in on how homeowners can better protect their property.
“The homeowner should consider putting a security camera inside their garage,” one Instagram commenter suggested.
Another user noted, “The home owner didn’t know a dude was living in garage? It took the police to discover a person living there? How big is the garage?”
The charges against the suspect are presently unknown.
