Arkansas couple check the basement after food goes missing in their house. Their next step is to call the police

A couple in Arkansas made a disturbing discovery after realizing that items, particularly food, were going missing from their home. Upon investigating further they found something shocking waiting for them in the basement.

Dutch Hoggatt, a professor at Harding University, first noticed that something was amiss when a pair of his work shoes vanished into thin air. Soon he and his wife Sharon began noticing other peculiarities such as chairs being moved and other things going missing. Hoggatt told KTVB that he had “noticed that some of our food was missing.”

Cherisse, the couple’s daughter, also noticed things mysteriously vanishing, one of the donuts had been eaten while they were out and an apple as per People. It became clear that this wasn’t just in their heads; Dutch, Sharon, their daughter Cherisse, and her husband Mark Gregory decided they needed to investigate. Before long they found the answer to this strange mystery waiting for them in the basement.

What was in the basement?

In the storage area under the basement stairs Sharon spotted something that made her blood run cold. Recounting the story, Gregory explained that his mother-in-law had seen “somebody’s leg or jeans.” Seeing that Sharon was freaked out they backed out of the room and Gregory grabbed a baseball bat before going to confront the intruder.

Gregory began yelling at the unknown person to come out and began hitting the doorframe with the bat as an attempt to intimidate. Eventually the individual did step out, confirming their fears that somebody had been hiding in their home this whole time.

The man was later identified as a 41-year-old man by the name of Preston Scott Landis. He was subsequently arrested by authorities on charges of residential burglary and theft of property.

Despite it all it seems the intruder meant no harm to the family and Gregory even admitted to feeling sorry for the man, “I knew what he did was wrong, but he was struggling with things.” Landis had apparently taken shelter in a crawl space during severe weather. At some point he moved into the basement after the door had been left unlocked at a time when Hoggatt and his wife had left the house.

Hoggatt also stated that he was “not angry at this man.” going on to add that he also felt sorry for Landis although he was glad that they figured it out sooner rather than later. Cherisse also stated that Landis apologized before leaving their house, saying, “tell your folks that I’m really sorry and they seem like really nice people.”