A Tennessee held an intruder at knifepoint after her eight-year-old daughter found the man in her playroom.
Cory Conquest said that family members saw an intruder enter her home after a “suspicious man” was reported in the area by 911 callers earlier in the day.
Despite spotting the home intruder, their search of the premises did not reveal his presence inside their house in Greenbrier, Tennessee.
Though he was seen walking into the garage earlier, they figured he had left on his own when they couldn’t find him.
Home intruder lurks in child’s playroom
The family went back to their normal lives, but an hour later, Conquest’s 8-year-old daughter made a chilling discovery.
The girl found the suspect, identified as career criminal Charles Mann, in her upstairs playroom.
“She came running back downstairs screaming and crying that there was a man up there,” Conquest told local news outlet WSMV.
“Because of what had happened earlier in the day, I assumed it was the same man.”
Mom takes on home intruder with kitchen knife
The fierce mother said that she immediately took a knife out of the kitchen for the sake of her own protection, then went in search of the home intruder.
“I just knew I needed to keep him away from all my people,” she remarked.
Conquest said that Mann came “stumbling” down the steps as she reached the bottom of the staircase.
It was there that she held him at knifepoint for a harrowing two minutes until law enforcement authorities arrived at the home.
“He just should have never come in my home,” Conquest said about Mann. “And he was going to wait for the police to come.”
“Because then my second thought was that I wanted him to pay for what he had done to my family.”
Tennessee home intruder has a long rap sheet
Mann was taken into custody by the Greenbrier Police Department last Friday.
According to officers from the precinct had been hunting for him the same day after he had broken into a car, but he managed to avoid capture twice by hiding out.
Mann is looking at charges of aggravated burglary and carjacking, and has previously been charged with an array of crimes, including domestic assault, theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is being held on $40,000 bond at a local detention facility, a fact that hasn’t made Conquest or her daughter feel any safer.
The brave mother said that since discovering Mann in the playroom, her child has been able to enter the space.
“We’re not okay now, three days later,” Conquest told reporters. “But we’re just taking it day by day.”
She said that it’s fine with her if her daughter wants to follow her around the house and sleep in the same room with her for as long as they need to.
“But no, we don’t feel safe in our home right now,” Conquest concluded.
