Police say it was just outside Rising Sun in a rural setting with no nearby neighbors that the criminals must have thought an 81-year-old woman living alone would make for an easy target.
"She was awoken by noises in her house, which startled her,” said Major George Stanko of the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office. “She woke up to see what the noises were and confronted two males."
Two masked men, one of them armed with a knife and they meant business, but she was about to turn the tables on them.
"They asked her for money. She stated she didn't have any money and so while they were in the process of ransacking her bedroom, she activated her Life Alert button," said Stanko.
In a scenario not unlike some depicted on a website for the medical alert system, the intruders bolted from the home in an instant, leaving empty handed and well aware that Cecil County Sheriff's deputies and other emergency responders would arrive in a matter of minutes.
"I can't recall a Life Alert button being used to alert authorities to the burglary of a house,” said Stanko. “We get many activations for actual medical emergencies or for people that fall in a residence, but for a burglary, I can't recall one."
"And you've been at this how many years?"
"I've been in law enforcement since 1981."
"So in 36 years, you don't remember a case like this?"
"I can't recall one during a burglary. Not in this area."
But it's certainly one the 81-year-old woman, emboldened by the press of a button, will never forget.
If you have any information, which could help lead police to the suspects in this case, you can call the Cecil County Sheriff's Office at 410-996-5500.
