Get those intruders out

Outed after year truly in closet
Intruder's food thefts finally tipped resident

Associated Press
May 31, 2008

TOKYO—A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house in Japan and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from the southern town of Kasuya said Friday.

The home's resident installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

Police were investigating details of her life inside the closet. She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and apparently even took showers, Itakura said, describing the woman as "neat and clean."

POINT: we all have secret intruders taking up space in our minds. We may not notice them but they continue to use our resources. They can hide in tiny compartments. we need the thoroughness of Yom Kippur to help us realize they are there and find them and chase them out.