Palmer woman shaken by brush with strangers

March 7, 2006

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A woman who has lived in downtown Palmer for 17 years felt so comfortable she often left her door unlocked, but that changed after two men she didn't know came to her door, asked her personal questions, refused to say why they were there and took off as soon as they heard another person in her house.

&#8220They scared the s— out of me,” said Shannon Halsey. &#8220You can't do that in Palmer anymore. All my friends are freaking out.”

There were two cars in her driveway the afternoon of Feb. 24 when two white men came to her side door, Halsey said.

&#8220The first thing he asked was if my husband was home,” she said. &#8220I said he wasn't home yet and then the guy mentioned advertising, but he didn't say whether he was selling something or looking for something.”

The two men were at her side door and Halsey kept the screen door shut as she spoke to them, she said.

Her doors weren't locked. Halsey had left one open so her friend, Caryn Strickland, could come in while Halsey was in the shower.

&#8220I had just walked in,” Strickland said. &#8220I said, ‘What the hell are you doing? I could have been a burglar.' Nowadays, it is just not safe.”

The men didn't see Strickland, according to both women, but she was sitting in a chair, watching them.

The younger man was in his early 20s, she said, with dark-brown hair that just touched his shoulders. Both men wore dark knit hats, the type that could be pulled down over their faces, she said.

&#8220The other dude looked to be more like in his early 30s,” Strickland said. &#8220His hair was shaved close to his head, but you could see gray in it. Both guys looked like they had about a week's worth of beard growth, and you could see gray in his facial hair, too.”

Strickland estimates the men were at the door for seven or eight minutes at the most, but they never said what they were selling, in spite of Halsey asking them repeatedly. Instead, Halsey said, they tried to divert her attention by asking about the toy poodle in her arms.

&#8220My heart was racing,” Halsey said. &#8220I asked them four times if they were selling things. He said he'd like the phone number of the woman who sold me the dog. When I said he could get the number from the newspaper, he got defensive and said that he just wanted to get one for his mother.”

Strickland spoke up then, saying loudly that the phone was ringing and Halsey should answer that.

&#8220As soon as I said that, they said, ‘Gotta go,' and walked very fast to their brand-spanking-new truck,” Strickland said. &#8220Shannon looked out the front window and I looked out the side, to get the license plate. Then we called the cops.”

The women described the truck as silver, with no logos or company signs and an odd back license plate that was definitely not an Alaska plate.

It was white, they said, with &#8220NO BULL” in red letters.

&#8220It didn't look like a vanity plate, though,” Strickland said. &#8220It looked like the one for the Chicago Bulls, but with no state name on it. Maybe they were using it to cover up the real one.”

The Palmer police responded to the women's call and located the truck, they said.

&#8220They told us it was from out of state, and they were trying to sell filters for air purifiers,” Strickland said. &#8220Officer [James] Gipson said he told them it wasn't legal to sell door to door in the city, and that they had to get out of town. He told Shannon not to worry, that it was over and that was the end of it. But I believe if she had opened the door, something really bad would have happened.”

Although the incident didn't make it into the Palmer police press releases, it affected both women deeply.

&#8220Thank God my friend was here,” Halsey said. &#8220It scared me. It scared me to the core. And I don't want to be scared.”

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.