Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Hero mom attacks perv to protect teen daughter

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

A Texas mom turns into a linebacker to take out a pervy peeping tom. Phyllis Pena returns home from an early morning shopping trip to find a man crouched by her home, looking into her daughter's room. The cops are called and the Peeping Tom tries to slip away. Our hero mom makes an NFL-worthy tackle to save the day.Joining Nancy Grace today: Phyllis Pena - Victim's Mother Ashley Wilcott - Judge and trial attorney, anchor at Court TV, www.ashleywillcott.com Sara G. West, M.D., Forensic Psychiatrist, Specializing in Sexually Deviant Behavior, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, forensicpsychiatryMD.com Roy W. Welch - Administrative Sergeant, Lake Jackson Police Department Tom Patire "America's Leading Personal Safety Expert", author of "Tom Patire's Personal Protection Handbook" Levi Page - Crime Online Investigative Reporter, Host, "Crime and Scandal" True Crime Podcast, YouTube.com/LeviPageTV  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Do you love anything more on this earth than your children? Don't tell my husband, but I don't. Can you imagine going in to check on your children, let's just say at night as they are sleeping, and you see looking in the window at your little girl, a freaky peeping Tom, as they are euphemistically called, peeping Tom. That sounds like something out of a child's nursery rhyme, Peeping Tom. They are anything but out of a nursery rhyme. But that's exactly what happened to this mom. She actually spots a Peeping Tom looking in on her little girl. And you know, all H-E-double-L breaks loose.

First of all, take a listen to our friends at ABC 13 KTRK-TV. We're going to call this right here a textbook tackle. That's right. A mom here in Lake Jackson wasn't scared to get physical with a man she says was peeking into her daughter's window. Wow. A mom gets physical with a guy peeping on her little girl. Again, thanks for being with us here at Fox Nation. With me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, Levi Page, host of Crime and Scandal, the true crime podcast.

Tom Pateri, America's leading personal safety expert, author of Tom Pateri's Personal Protection Handbook. I've read it. It's awesome. Rory Welch, administrative sergeant, Lake Jackson, Texas, PD. Wow.

Thanks for taking your time to be with us. I'm sure you got your hands full back at the headquarters. Sarah G. West, MD, joining us out of Ohio, Forensic Psychiatrist, specializing in sexually deviant behavior. Boy, do we need a shrink. Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Case Western. That ain't shabby. Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer joining us. Anchor at Court TV at AshleyWilcott.com. But special guest joining us. Phyllis Pena, the woman who took on the perv. First of all to you, Miss Pena, and I hope I'm not masquerading your name. Thank you so much for being with us. Let me just ask you this. Tell me about your

family. Let's just start because I have 13-year-old twins just turned boy-girl. I got an 89-year-old mother living with me. My husband's a saint. And we have a rescue dog, a rescue cat, two guinea pigs. And there always seems to be somebody living in our house. You know, there's always somebody that's in between, and they're living with us. So tell me about your family. Let's start with that. Well, living with me, I have my three kids.

They're 17, 15, and 12. And one girl and then two boys. And then my oldest son, he moved out. He's 19. I actually have a grandbaby on the way. And then I have our three dogs that, that of course were all asleep at the time so they weren't guarding very well of course yeah of course that's usually how it happens they bark at the squirrel and not the person in the yard so you've got three children at home two of them

teams one almost a team one already flew the nest and all the dogs who apparently slept through the entire thing lady you got your hands full okay at least you know i've got two children the guinea pigs can't talk back so that's a good thing you've got three that can talk back that day miss penya uh tell me what happened well i had ran to the store because i happened to be out of coffee and i woke up early and it's actually kind of unnormal for me to be up that early and when i was coming back how early did you wake up it was probably about 6 30 oh my stars miss pinya i just got to tell you something right off the bat. Our apartment in New York is in a high rise, 21st floor. And I remember I was just about to hop in the shower to get to work, to get on air.

And I ran into the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine. And I flipped around, not back toward the bedroom, but toward the window. You'll never believe this. This is 6.15 a.m. in the morning, and directly across the street, standing there stock still, was a peeping Tom. I guess, you know, he knew what time I or somebody above me or below me would get up. He was looking right into me, running into the kitchen. I froze and turned and just walked out and immediately called downstairs and tried to catch him.

We didn't catch him. But wouldn't you think that early in the morning people would be getting ready for work or doing something constructive instead of staring in a window? Okay, back to you, Ms. Pena. Early morning, going to get coffee. How early was it? When I got back to the house, it was right at 7 o'clock. Okay. I pulled into the driveway and was walking around the front of my car.

And when I walked going to my front door, out of the corner of my eye, I realized there was somebody standing there. And at this point, he didn't even hear me pull into the driveway. You're kidding. He was so focused on looking in the window. He didn't even hear mommy pull up in the driveway. Hold on just a moment right there. Sarah G. West west forensic psychiatrist guys when you're a psychiatrist that means you've already got you're a doctor a medical doctor and then you specialize

in psychiatry dr west he this perv was so intent to me i'm baffled because typically crime of this sort does not happen so early in the morning before you can even have your coffee crime usually picks up later in the day so this guy this perv didn't even hear mommy drive up in the driveway get out of the car slam the door nothing what does that tell you that he seemed very intent on what he was doing or what he was looking at back to miss phyllis pinya uh hero in my book go ahead miss pinya so he doesn't even see you and out of the corner of your eye with your peripheral vision you notice something what yeah i noticed someone standing in front of the house and I looked and he was crouched down trying to look through the blinds. And I, you

know, excuse my language, I'll try to bleep it. I was like, what the are you doing? Okay, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Is this, what room was this? This was at my daughter's window. Her bedroom window or bathroom window? Yes, ma'am. The bedroom window. When you said blinds, when you or your daughter close your blinds, do you slant them up or down? I do them up because I feel like you can't see in with them being up like that. You know, I do that too. Let me go to Tom Pateri, America's leading personal safety expert, author of Tom Pateri's personal protection handbook you can find it on amazon that's where i got it tom what's the truth behind that is it better to do the the blinds slanted up or down okay i would say the blinds down and here's the reason because sunlight comes

up and it opens more so people could look up but when it's down it creates more darkness so it's hard to access a direct site when you're looking down it's easier for direct access when you look all this time i thought you were supposed to tilt them up as you're looking at them up jackie google it it's going to be Pateri. I was told that it's harder, more difficult to see from the outside and if they're up and you're telling me down. Well, apparently I missed that page in your book. One of the key things I do with my clients when I travel as a bodyguard is I find what is myth and what is truth. So unless you do things for a living on being your own bodyguard, you'll understand more about light and perspective as it enters into a room, such as a bedroom versus the living room, which is more wide open. And that's why I go against the grain when I test things out.

And you'll see that if you're in a closed area and you have darker blinds or darker curtains, that light will come down off of them if they're pulled out. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Back to you, Phyllis Pena, the victim's mom. So you come up, you're at the front door, you look over, and there's this guy squatting down see i had it completely bass-ackwards i thought he was standing up kind of at the corner of the window looking down for those of you just joining us how many people see a situation every day and for whatever reason they do nothing either they don't know what to do they're afraid to do it they're afraid of the implications and right now i say n o to that do something don't sit back and let bad things happen this woman joining me right now miss

phyllis pina did not sit back as matter of fact, take a listen to our friend, Les Trent at Inside Edition. Do not mess with this mom. Phyllis Pena says she arrived home to see a creep peeping into her 15 year old daughter's bedroom. The suspect took off and Phyllis gave chase as seen in this police dash cam video. In a moment's reaction, I'm like, oh my God, he's coming my way.

He's coming this way. And my daughter's like, mom, no, don't. And I'm like, no. The daughter begging the mom to do what she was going to do. Mommy didn't listen. Thank heaven. Back to mommy, Phyllis Pena joining us out of texas so phyllis you see him and then what happens whenever i yelled at him he turned and looked at me like that deer in the headlight look and he took off running um like i guess you could say five or so houses down like that way or you know towards that way or whatever away from the house so I had the choice of either chasing or going to check on my daughter and of course at that very moment it was to go check on my daughter and I went inside and thank heaven she wasn't in her

room she was in the shower you know what this. Pena? This means that he's most likely done this before. Because just like the guy that was on the 21st floor straight across from me, staring straight into my kitchen at 6 o'clock in the morning, that wasn't his first attempt. It couldn't have been. How would anybody know to get on the elevator or the stairwell and go up 21 flights? Yeah. And look directly across?

This guy had to know which one was your daughter's room. He had to know what time. Was this on a school day? No, ma'am. It was a Sunday. Sunday. Why was your daughter up that early on a Sunday? She has sleeping problems.

And there's some mornings she's up at 5 30 in the morning and if she can't fall back asleep she'll get up and start moving around. This guy knew it was her window. He had to because the blinds were pulled so he had to have previous knowledge that this was her window. I wonder how many times he's already peeped in on your little girl just putting it out there. Oh, I know. I thought about the same thing. He takes off running.

You go in and check on your daughter. Then what happens? As I'm running inside to check on her, I'm dialing the police station at the same time. You have your cell phone in your hand? Yes, ma'am. Okay. I give them my address. Was your daughter in the shower?

Yes, ma'am. What did you say to her? Well, at first I was yelling. I was like, where are you at? Where are you at? And then I realized she was in the shower, and I just told her. I said, somebody's peeping in your window. Do not come out of the bathroom yet.

You know, let me check back outside. And, of course, she started freaking out. She started freaking out, I'm sure. Yeah. When you saw the guy, could you tell how old he was? Could you get a good look at him? Or did he just, you said he gave you a deer in the headlights look. So you should have gotten a glance at least of his face.

Was the sun up yet? Was it still dark outside? Yeah, the sun was up. And when I called the police, I told them, you you know early 20s is what it looked like a younger gentleman is all I could tell you know just by looking I could tell he was not you know no wrinkles or you know what I mean he was definitely younger. To Roy Welch joining me Sergeant with Lake Jackson Texas PD. Sergeant thank you so much for being with us. Sergeant, I'm going to start with you and then circle back to Dr. West. This is anecdotal. I don't have a statistic to back this up, Sergeant Welch, but so often when

I was prosecuting or investigating a sex offender, be it a rapist, a child molester, I would look back at their rap sheet. I'd be looking for similar transactions to introduce a trial if I could find any. So often, Sergeant, I would find peeping Tom. Way back when, maybe when they were a teen, a young guy, they would start off as a peeping Tom. What do you say, Sergeant? why they would start off as a peeping Tom. What do you say, Sergeant? Well, unfortunately, that seems to be a trend, but at least with this person,

we luckily didn't have any involvement with him prior to this. Well, I guarantee you, if he hadn't been caught, Sergeant, fast forward five years, eight years, ten years, you know, you don't run a marathon the first day you walk, the first day you take those first few wobbly steps. You work up to it. That's what I'm saying, Sergeant. Have you ever noticed when you get a hold of or apprehend a sex offender that you find it started with peeping Tom? I haven't personally, but I know that that's something that definitely is out there. I've seen it a lot.

Let me go to Sarah G. West, a doctor joining us. Dr. West, a forensic psychiatrist. Dr. West, what is it about peeping Toms they graduate into full-blown sex offenders sure nancy that's a great point that you make so of the paraphilias which is the technical name for this kind of sexual deviant peeping tom what did you call it is a paraphilia and that's a diagnosis or a category rather in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders And this is the least intrusive, right? So these are folks who generally don't have a lot of social skills and don't want contact with people. Because if you note, they're not actually engaging with the person that they're looking at. So this is the least intrusive of these paraphilias. And you can see a graduating quality we call them comorbid paraphilias that

maybe even develop down the line which would involve more physical contact. Fraudering is rubbing oneself against someone else who's non-consenting. Whoa whoa whoa wait wait wait you know now do you understand Jackie why I said I would have to go to the medical examiner's office? Oh, I know they hated to see my old beat-up Honda pulling in. Because just like this, I'd have to stop the medical examiner every line and go, what? Don't say that in front of the jury, for Pete's sake, because nobody will know what you're saying. You're talking Latin. Dr. West, please excuse Jackie and myself for not understanding anything that you're

saying i'm just a jd you're the md now what was that did you say frattering that's a great word that's a cocktail party word you can drop that one what is that that is rubbing oneself for sexual pleasure against a non-consenting individual as you can imagine it happens fairly frequently on the rubbing what part of oneself genitalia or individual. As you can imagine, it happens fairly frequently on the... Rubbing what part of oneself? Genitalia or sexual organs. And you can imagine it happens rather frequently on the subway. You know what? I'm so glad I brought two cups of hot tea today because that certainly gave me a jolt. I need to get calmed down now. wait fraudering you just taught me something and you said paraphilia is the technical name for peeping tom and you said something about comorbid yes okay so paraphilia is the broad category and voyeurism is the technical name

for the peeping tom so paraphilia is a broad umbrella category voyeurism fraudering uh sexual sadism sexual masochism all those things fall under this category in our our psychiatry bible known as the dsm for short crime stories with nancy grace Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Okay, Sergeant Roy Welch. I sensed over the airwaves, you did not believe me. So I tasked Jackie with pulling up sound on a case I was just studying. Take a listen to this, Sergeant Welch.

Listen to our friends at KCCI Iowa. Imagine waking up to finding a stranger in your apartment recording you while you sleep. That's what Ames police say 29-year-old Trenton Williams did to several women. He's now charged. He's now facing a long list of charges. KCCI's Beau Bowman talked with one of the victims. Ames police say Trenton Williams has been breaking into apartments just like this one on Highland Avenue in Ames since May of 2019 and videotaping women in their bedroom as they slept. Can you please get out of our apartment?

Thank you. This has happened too many times. This video is from the fall of 2020 when Claire growth, a senior at Iowa State, says her roommate caught this man breaking into their apartment a second time. My roommate, like I said, had just gotten home, so she just the door just wasn't locked yet so he kind of just walked in you know as it turns out this guy who would just watch women sleep over and over and over finally attacks one of them so what i'm trying to say sergeant welch is you don't start typically with, let's just say, triple homicide. One of the first triple homicides I ever prosecuted, I found out that the shooter had been an armed robber, unapprehended,

had been selling dope, serious dope, such as cocaine and heroin, for years, had not been apprehended. He worked up to the night. He pulled the trigger multiple times and killed three young boys. It just doesn't happen in an instant. You work up to it. That's what I'm trying to say. Today, this guy caught red-handed by mommy peeping on her little girl in her bedroom as she's getting into the shower. Who knows what's going to come next yes ma'am i agree with you 100 i agree well darn if you agree with me i'm not going to be able to fight

with you so i'm gonna let you rethink that for a few moments in the meantime back to miss phyllis pina joining us miss pina so i noticed something that dr west West just said. Dr. West said typically these people, peeping toms, have a lack of social skills. So instead of going up to a girl at the high school dance and saying, hey, will you dance with me? Or hey hey do you want to go out for a milkshake after school whatever they peep so I'm looking at the guy right now his name is Zane Hawkins and he looks like a mild mannered milk toast he's pale very meek looking but you know who else looked pale and meek? Ted Bundy did.

If you look at his pictures, he looks, you know, sometimes he wore glasses, he's bespeckled, he looks scholarly, went to study law. You can't judge someone by what they look like. So, Ms. Pena, you see this guy. He's so staring into your daughter's room. Did she get undressed in her bedroom, then go into her shower? No, ma'am. Thank goodness she doesn't. So, I don't know, honestly, if, you know, he saw anything.

So, that, unfortunately, is going to be an unanswered, you know, question. It'll just be a thought in the back of my mind. You know, that brings me to another question for Dr. West. Dr. West, I don't know if a peeping Tom necessarily has to see a naked body to get a sexual thrill. The fact of peeping and seeing the victim at all and leaving the rest to his imagination may be enough for him. So I'll say, Nancy, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to qualify for voyeuristic disorder are peeping toms. It is sexual arousal from observing an unsuspecting person, that's critical, who is naked, disrorobing so there you go don't actually have to

see the nudity or engaging insects so uh yes it's probably more related to the thrill of observing someone while being unobserved back to miss pina so miss pina you rush in you check on your daughter and then what did you do i went back outside and the way my house is, when I walk out my front door to the left, which is the direction he had ran, I have kind of part of the house before it turns a corner. So I kind of peeked around the corner of my house and this was probably the creepiest thing. No, not the creepiest.

The second creepiest thing of the whole incident. I peek around the corner and he's five houses down just staring back. Oh, okay. You actually just gave me a chill on my arms. So the guy, no, it gave me a chill. He didn't run away. No. Okay. No, he didn't. Join me right now. Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, anchor at court tv at ashleywilcott.com. I been saving you ashley because not only you're a judge trial lawyer court tv anchor you're a mom you are a mom and one of your children is a girl about the age of my lucy did you hear what she did you hear what miss pina said yes yeah i have learned so much from this show today let me just suggest suggest that. A, way to go.

It is not a show. It is a program. I apologize. A show are like trained tricks and magic tricks. This is real. This woman comes in from a 6 o'clock coffee run and sees some perv staring in her little girl's window. And then she goes out and looks, and the perv has gone. Here come the chills.

Five blocks, five houses down, and he's still staring right at her. He's not wearing a mask. She can see him. He doesn't care. He's looking right back at her. Yeah, it is. It is. Chills is certainly a way to describe it.

I'm so proud of you as a mom taking action because it terrifies me that this could happen to anyone. The thing that really bothers me, and I'm not a psychologist either, I rely on you all as my experts, but I am going to say this. What bothers me is there's so many instances of this that I see in court, and these perpetrators feel like it's a victimless crime, like they're not doing anything. Well, I didn't touch her. I didn't do anything to her, which is obviously not the case. Of course, it's a crime. Of course, there's a victim and trauma. But I feel like these particular perpetrators don't think they're doing anything wrong. That's why they turn and

look and have a mask on and are a little bit like, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just walking through the neighborhood looking in windows. And I also think, Nancy, to go to something you said earlier, this is a 19-year-old. I do see escalation of these particular individuals in not getting enough satisfaction eventually, and then doing the next step, which is, oh, I'm just going to rub that person's butt or whatever part they want to when I run into them in a store. And then it escalates, right? And so I have a lot of fear and a lot of respect when these individuals and law enforcement prosecutes these individuals because we've got to stop it. We don't want it to escalate. And it is not a victimless crime.

And I don't know if jail time really cures a sex offender. I've always said they and burglars and peeping toms. Those three are incurable. They cannot, they can't be cured. To Sergeant Roy Welch, Sergeant with Lake Jackson Texas Police Department, this guy and this neighborhood and this house and this little girl and this mom are all telling me a story. What can you tell me about the neighborhood where this happened? I've looked at it. It looks like a residential neighborhood, a tree-lined street. It looks like

a great neighborhood, and I'm guessing with a low crime rate. Yes, ma'am. It is a very good neighborhood, very safe neighborhood. You know why I say that? Because so many people think, Sergeant, that that won't happen in my neighborhood. That's not true. Yes, ma'am. This neighborhood, it looks like Beaver Cleaver's neighborhood. Did you look at it online?

It's where everybody wants to live. And this is where this mom is trying to raise her children. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Ms. P, I haven't even gotten to the good part. And also, I'm going to circle back with Dr. West. Dr. West, the fact that this guy didn't run away. He stopped, and he stood there and stared back at the house. And when the mom goes after him, he stares right at her. That tells me something, but just as a trial lawyer, I'm not sure.

It tells me, uneducatedated that he's not really afraid that he's so fixated on that girl and that house he would risk standing there being identified rather than hightail it and get out of there yeah so i think ashley hit the nail on the head when she said that they don't think it's a problem. This is a, actually, interestingly, when you go to see a mental health provider, it's usually because you're in distress, right? So you have depression, you have anxiety, you see a doctor. This is the one set of diagnoses that does not require the individual to be in distress by their own actions. It actually has the caveat that it can be distressing to someone else, which makes it kind of a unique thing. Back to you, Ms. Pena, the

victim's mom. So you come around the house, you look, and there he is looking right at you. What happened? Well, he didn't actually see me since I peeked around the house, but he was looking this direction. So when I realized he was looking back this way, I ducked back behind the house again, because I didn't want to scare him off. So I ducked back behind the house again, and I waited a second and I peeked back around and he had turned around and he was walking back around this camper that is, you know, in that person's driveway. Not even running? No, no, no. Whenever he started walking back around,

that's when I started walking through my yard and onto the sidewalk to go down that way. And right about that time when I hit the sidewalk, the police, I think it was two cars from each direction from down my street was coming down and the cop jumped out of his SUV really quick. And I told him, I said, the gentleman just went around that camper. You actually called him a gentleman? Well, I have Southern manners, so I'm sorry. But yes, ma'am. I don't know if I would have been as polite as you but go ahead

well they went running down that way to get him and uh by this time my daughter had walked out of the house and was standing next to me and that's that's her in the video with me and uh we me and her were just watching them down that way, and we could hear the cops yelling and telling him to get on the ground. One cop tried to grab him, and he wasn't able to get him because he was running pretty quick. Another cop tried to tase him, and when I heard the taser, I thought, okay, they got him. We're good. Well, the taser missed him, and it got the back of his jacket instead of making contact. And that was at the point where the video starts. And you can see me going from like the demeanor of just like standing there watching to, oh, crap, like he's coming back this way. And that was the point where, you know, I realized he was coming this way and he wasn't going to stop.

So that's when I took out some tackle moves that I didn't know I had. And that was probably the craziest thing is I didn't even realize what I did until I saw the video. And probably the next creepiest thing past him staring back this way was when I tackled him, he looked at at me if you look in the video he's looking directly at me and he tells me I wasn't gonna hurt her is she okay and that right there was enough to just left me speechless I can't believe you didn't punch him right in the mouth for even saying that. I didn't get a chance to because literally if you notice in the video, I'm just staring at him because I'm in shock.

And then the police caught up and, you know, took over. So it's I didn't even have a moment of, you know, to even think about, you know, let me punch him or, you know what I mean? I was just in shock. You full on tackle him like an NFL linebacker lady. I mean, you go right for the gut and bring him down all the time. Your daughter's going, no, mom, no, no. Guys, take a listen to our friend, Michael Lopardi, KPRC TV channel to Houston. That mom had just returned home from the store around seven o'clock in the morning when she saw a man in her yard. She says he was able to get

away from two officers but not from her. Even if you think you can run from the cops, good luck getting past this mom. I figured at least I could do if I got them down, tripped them up, whatever, then they'd have a chance to get caught up. That's Phyllis Pena in the red shirt. First instinct was just to make sure he didn't go any further. Captured on police dash cam, taking down a man she says was trying to look into her 15-year-old daughter's bedroom window early on a Sunday morning. My kids are my life and, you know, just making sure I protect them pretty much. Lake Jackson Police Sergeant Rory Welch gave her some credit.

It was a pretty good tackle. That's you, Sergeant Welch, joining me from Lake Jackson Texas Police Department. It was a good tackle. Tell me, what did the tackle look like when you saw what went down? Well, when I saw the video, I was pretty impressed with her tackling skills. She did a good job. What did you go for, Ms. Pena? Did you go for the stomach, the knees, the crotch?

Honestly, whenever he was running towards me, it wasn't, you know, you don't have a minute to even think about which, where you're going. You know what I mean? It's just more of I just wanted to make sure I grabbed hold of him and he didn't go anywhere. And luckily, I got the right spot. I mean, well, technically not the right spot because the right spot would have been a little bit lower, but the right spot to get him down. And then when you got him down, he says, I didn't hurt her. Is she OK?

Yeah. He said, I wasn't going to hurt her. Is she yeah he said I wasn't gonna hurt her is she okay and my daughter heard it too and she was like what in the world you know what I mean because she ran over there and was helping hold him down when you go for this guy and full-on tackle him I think you had on shorts and you took him down on the asphalt. Were you aware, for instance, the pain when you hit the asphalt in the tackle when you went down yourself? Were you aware your daughter was yelling, don't mom, don't? Was any of that seeping in? No, I didn't realize that I hurt myself until after I got up and I lost my glasses in it.

I lost my shoe, my cell phone. Everything went flying. I was picking up everything. My daughter was like, oh my gosh, mom, look at your leg. I looked down and I'm just dripping blood. I'm like, oh, well, that sucks. But in that moment, adrenaline. I remember when my son went missing in a giant Baby's Rest Warehouse.

I grabbed my daughter. They were a little over two at the time, like a football under one arm, and started running and screaming. And I remember I didn't hear or notice anything around me until I saw my son. And I'm just imagining that moment for you. But I want you to take a listen to our friend, our cut 12, Gloria Rivera at ABC News. This is not the first time a mom fears nothing. Listen. And when I have a gentleman on my phone, he's on Mower River Road on his way to AVH. His son was attacked by a mountain lion. A Colorado mother, a hero tonight, overpowering a mountain lion to save her young son.

The boy, just five years old, playing in the yard with his older brother in a rural neighborhood outside of Aspen. Hearing screams, his mom running outside to find her son's head in the mouth of a predator. Authorities describing how she was able to physically remove her son from the lion, prying open its jaws, freeing the boy. This mother did everything right. She went out there and saved her child from the lion, and that's actually absolutely what you should do. Mountain lions are not uncommon in Colorado, but attacks are rare.

You want to fight. You want to put up a resistance, and you want the animal to know that you're not an easy prey. The boy lived, thanks to mommy, literally prying open the mouth of a mountain lion to save her five-year-old son. Ms. Pena, when you look back at what happened, what do you recall? You know, I recall just being completely in shock the whole time because you never think something like that's going to ever happen, you know, to your home, to your kids, you know, anything like that um and just my whole thought the whole entire time was just like he cannot get away because you know you don't know

if he'll come back or he'll you know look in someone else's window or you know going back to and I apologize I forget you know who had said it but about but about people thinking when they do a crime that it's no big deal. My daughter, she hears noises out her window, whether it be a cat or something, and she's scared. To Levi Page joining us, investigative reporter with CrimeOnline.com, host of Crime and Scandal True Crime podcast. Levi, who is this guy, Zane Hawkins? I mean, to look at him, he looks like he's afraid to drink a glass of milk for Pete's sake, but that's not true. Yeah, that is not true, Nancy. He was arrested after, thanks to this mother tackling him, and he was booked and he's facing charges of possession

of a controlled substance evading arrest and resisting arrest and nancy people say that this is a victimless crime peeping tom but did you know that the golden state killer that terrorized california for decades southern california he was a serial rapist, a serial murder, one of the most prolific in U.S. history. He started out as a peeping Tom. People in that area reported a masked man staring in their window. And those reported reportings happened before the murders took place. He started out as a peeping Tom. He graduated to breaking in and going through women's underwear drawers. Then he started sex attacking and then he started murdering.

Okay. Sergeant Welch, I hope you heard that because I'm truly vindicated now. Okay. Guys, joining me right now, very special guest, America's leading personal safety expert, author of Tom Pateri's Personal Protection Handbook. Tom, what do we do about pervs like this guy? Okay. So first we have to understand that somewhere at some time, he spotted this person, this young lady. So situational awareness comes in as a key factor. We got to pay more attention to what's going on because these guys look for patterns. They look for people that aren't paying attention. Then they go look at the houses. Is

there any access in there? Is there any way, you know, they can go around shrubbery or things that cover and conceal them? So that's phase one. You know, phase two is always have that home prepared. If you don't have a firearm, and I do say this, if you do have one, make sure you're trained in safety and engagement. Don't just fire weapons to fire, but you can also use your bathroom or your kitchen and make instant pepper sprays. Anything with aerosol that has alcohol, anything with pepper-based, anything with salt-based comes instant blinders. So if somebody's in your home, home you know you don't want to take them on on their own terms you want to take them on on your terms if it's nighttime you leave the lights off because you know

your house better than anyone so these people are like you know a mouse in a maze they're trying to find a way out you know if it's daytime you know you secure yourself call 9-1-1 The police are experts at what they do. Just stay on the phone, talk to them, make sure you barricade yourself in there and let the police enter in and only leave those rooms when the police tell you to. Tom Pateri with me, America's leading personal safety expert and author of Tom Pateri's Personal Protection Handbook on Amazon. Tom Pateri, you've said something that really piqued my interest, and that is access to the home. What do you think of putting something like a holly bush or a prickly bush, a sharp type of leafed bush around all your windows. Yeah. Again, you want to make the decor of the house. So something like rose bushes come in handy, holly bushes, but I will tell you the

best deterrent in the world. Get a good dog that's territorial and believe me, he will do everything for you because he is territorial. He will hear these people coming a mile away. He will let you know they're there. And should that dog come out on the property and somebody's there, he will do what he's supposed to do and protect the home. And what do you make of motion sensor lights outside? I like them. You know, I think they're good, but you know, different storms can set them off and triggers or make a move. So there's something that you have to check on and make sure you're adjusted. You could also put them inside your walkway.

So somebody who steps up walking to your front door and all, it lights the whole house up. So I'm really big on them. You know, good point. Tom Pateri with me, America's leading personal safety expert and author of a bestseller, Tom Pateri's Personal Protection Handbook.

Phyllis Pena, the hero today. I understand that you may be offered a job, either with the NFL pros or back at the police station. What is your message today, Ms. Pena? You know, I know that you're always supposed to, you know, see something, say something, but so many people don't. So many people are scared of what might happen. And I've seen a lot of comments and people have told me that, you know, well, what if he had a gun?

Well, what if he had a knife? You could have got hurt. You know, when you're protecting your kids, those kind of things aren't something that you consider. You know, you don't consider whether or not you're going to get hurt in the process because I can't have my child living in fear. You know, we're all scared of what might happen. And that's why we don't do something to, you know, stop things. And it's just it's it's sad because it happens way too often where people just aren't willing to stop things from happening. So criminals, unfortunately, think that they can get away with it

because people are scared. You are so right, Ms. Pena. How's your daughter? She's okay. Like I said the other day, you know, I asked her because I realized I hadn't really talked with her about the situation, and I asked her how she was doing and, you know, how she felt, and she just said that, you know, she's really skittish, you know,

because we don't have answers the you know he never said anything what he was which obviously we know what he was doing there but you know just how many times it had happened before you know so she's definitely it's going to take her a little while to get over it, and that's why I said it's not an okay thing to do. I know that they don't see harm in it because they're just looking in a window, but then you get, especially because she's 15, get her scared of every noise she hears outside her window. And Ms. Pena, not just protecting your daughter,

but who knows what he would have done next time. I worry about if I hadn't got home when I did. Tip line, the National Sex Assault Hotline, 800-656-HOPE. H-O-P-E, 800-656-4673. I wish all our stories had this happy ending. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast. Goodbye, friend.