An Ankeny woman was making herself comfortable in the manager’s trailer at the Perry Municipal Airport when the manager and his wife returned and found the unknown and unexpected intruder in their home.
Jonathan and Gretchen Walter, managers of the Perry airport since 2017, reported the stranger in their trailer about 6:30 p.m., and the Perry Police Department and Dallas County Sheriff’s office responded.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around what happened,” said Jonathan Walter, “but somebody helped themselves into our trailer out here and when Gretchen and I got back from dinner, I found some lady in out bathroom, taking a shower.”
Walter said he reviewed security camera footage, and it appears the Ankeny woman showed up about 3:30 p.m. and first explored the terminal and all its rooms and then moved on to the trailer.
“Nothing was taken. Nothing was stolen,” Walter said. “She was moving stuff around. She took stuff like clothes from the main room and put them back in the bedroom. She took a cookie out of the fridge and didn’t eat it but just left it setting out, you know, just random stuff but didn’t actually steal anything.”
The fate of Goldilocks might have been a lot different if she trespassed on an American homestead, where the Second Amendment is the law of the land.
“She was literally in the shower when we got back,” Walter said. “I had to go into a dark trailer that smelled funny, and somebody was here, and I could hear the shower running. Thank God I didn’t shoot her.”
Law enforcement arrived on scene and confirmed that the Ankeny woman was the registered owner of the Toyota Scion van parked outside the trailer and had no outstanding arrest warrants.
“She had some really odd alibi or weird story as to why she was there that didn’t make sense, and none of it really added up,” Walter said, but he said he “chose not to press any charges. I just made it very clear that she was not supposed to be here and should not be coming back.”
In the end, the Ankeny woman was sent on her way with the pink duffel bag and shoulder bag that she arrived with, and the Walters — along with local law enforcement — were left to puzzle over the curious case of the New year’s even Goldilocks.
“”I have no idea.” Walters said. “The cops don’t know what the deal was. I’m absolutely baffled. I’ve been living in an airport for 10-plus years, and I’ve never had something like that happen.”
