LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (KOIN) — Emma Van Dusen was home alone around 5 p.m. on September 3 when she heard her dog growling and barking. The 17-year-old went into the backyard to see what was going on and spotted a man standing in their driveway.
She said the man, identified as Hector Mundt, unlocked their back gate and chased her through her backyard and tried to break into the home. She said she barely made it into the house and locked the door, but he ran to their front door and kept trying to get in.
She called 911 but was put on hold. So she called her mom and other family members who got to the house before police did. Mundt, she said, was trying to break a window when they arrived.
“He was trying to get to me, that’s crazy. He was trying to get in the house and get to me, like, very scary the way he acted,” Emma said. “Everything he was saying didn’t make any sense at all.”
Police said Mundt broke into another home nearby about an hour earlier.
But Mundt, 39, is not in jail even though he has a history of breaking into people’s homes. But each time the cases are dismissed because he’s been found unfit to proceed because of a traumatic brain injury.
He was arrested 2 days ago but, again, the cases were dismissed because of his brain injury.
Court documents obtained by KOIN 6 News show that on April 2, he allegedly climbed the fire escape of an apartment building in Northwest Portland, opened a woman’s bedroom window and started to crawl through. He left after she yelled at him.
Then on May 25, 2021, court documents say he kicked in the back door of a home in Southeast Portland and stole several items.
Lake Oswego police are working on filing charges for the break-ins at Emma’s home and the other nearby home. The victim in that house said she is extremely traumatized about what he did there.
Emma, who spoke with KOIN 6 News with her mother’s permission, said she is still shaken up and is worried he will continue to try to break into homes if he’s not held accountable.
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.
