PALO ALTO (KRON) — A 55-year-old woman was arrested after she broke into a home and attempted to take a resident’s vehicle at knifepoint, Palo Alto police said on Wednesday.
The alleged break-in was reported shortly before 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday in the 900 block of Hamilton Avenue. Investigators say the victim, a woman in her eighties, called 911 and told a dispatcher that a person armed with a knife was attempting to gain access to her home.
Officers immediately responded and learned that the intruder had made her way into the home but that the resident was able to escape.
The victim tells police that she awoke that morning to find the intruder in her bedroom. The resident says the suspect, who was wearing a wig, demanded that she hand over her car keys. Police say the victim managed to run downstairs and hide. Investigators say when she heard the intruder exit the home’s back door, the resident shut the door and locked the suspect outside.
Through the inset window of the back door, though, the suspect then displayed a key to the residence, brandished a large knife, and threatened to harm the victim if she did not give the suspect her car keys, according to police.
Investigators say the victim made the 911 call, as she moved to another area of the home. When she heard the suspect open the back door and re-enter the home, the victim ran outside and met responding officers.
A few minutes later, the suspect attempted to flee the residence. But police say officers surrounded the home and arrested her as she emerged from a side gate.
Police say at the time of the arrest, the suspect was carrying numerous items that belonged to the victim. Located nearby was a 14-inch, ceremonial dagger, also later determined to have come from the victim’s home.
Police say their follow-up investigation revealed that the suspect had once shared a mutual acquaintance with the victim. Investigators believe that’s how the suspect knew the location of a hide-a-key, which she used to enter the home.
The victim was not injured during the incident.
The suspect has been identified as Jennifer Louise Gause of East Palo Alto. She was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on one felony count of burglary, one felony count of robbery, and one misdemeanor count of brandishing a weapon.