UPDATE: I posted on Nextdoor for my local neighborhood. Girl was identified and someone reached out to her. She said her phone had died, she got turned around and just needed directions. But she made it home ok!! :)
True story, by the way. This happened to me earlier tonight.
Mid-size city, 500K people. Suburbia area. Well lit. Good part of town. Next to parks, schools, etc. Nice weather.
9:30 tonight (Sunday), I was in the house putting away some laundry. I heard the doorbell. I didn't think anything of it, because I have been getting lots of amazon deliveries.
30 seconds or so later, a knock on the door. Wow, delivery guy is def letting me know I guess.
So I finish folding my laundry, go to front porch. Probably 5 to 10 minutes since knock on door. No package. Weird.
I check my porch camera and it shows a teen girl, maybe 15 or so, out of breath ringing the doorbell. She's wearing pajama bottom pants, shoes, hoodie and a backpack. And she says to herself, "I need help. This is terrible."
She sets on my front step for a few seconds, gets up, then knocks on door. Looks around. Then leaves.
After I see vid, run to sidewalk... look up and down. Nothing. I run back in, put shoes on, go out and again, looking. Nothing.
I call 911 tell the police what happened, they send someone out, but they don't get here till about 30 minutes later. So basically police show up a full 45 minutes after the girl knocked on my door.
While waiting for police, I see neighbor, 2 houses down, pulling out of driveway. I run up to him, show him vid, tell him what happened, he says he'll check his cams, but he didn't get a knock or doorbell ring.
I'm kicking myself that I didn't at least check the porch cam right when doorbell rang. I legit can not stop thinking about that girl knocking on a strangers (my) door hoping I would answer.
She was out of breath, but wasn't banging on the door extra loud or anything. No crying. And I have neighbors all over and across the street. And just a block down is a 7-11.
So it probably wasn't super serious (I hope!), and maybe she just lost her phone or something (I hope!). But I can't sleep thinking about it.
I posted the vid to my local nextdoor community webpage, posted on facebook, etc. All in the hopes that someone will recognize her.
What would you guys do in this situation? Anything I could have done differently (other than answer the door)?
tl;dr: I ignored doorbell thinking it was just amazon package. Check porch cam later and realize it was teen girl saying she needed help and that something terrible happened. Police didn't arrive till 45 minutes later and no sign of girl.
I get why the feelings sucks. You're in your head and somehow only the worst possible outcomes ruminate. You've called the cops, good on you.
You're not in charge of the world, there ought to be others who are charged with taking care of that girl. Their failure in preventing her from showing up on your porch is not your fault either and she's their responsibility, not yours. Keep repeating that in your head.
Girl was identified thru my Nextdoor posting of the vid. She was just lost, dead phone, but made it home fine.
Glad to hear it! I thought I heard a sigh of relief so massive it circled the world twice.
That was just about how loud my sigh was. I had talked to neighbors, the police, the convience store down the street. Checking news. And it was all for nothing, she's fine. I am so relieved. Nextdoor saved the day tho. I usually hate that app because it's a bunch of Karen's bitching about everything. But one took the vid I posted, showed her friends, and mystery solved. :)