Dad fights off intruder after finding man hiding under 7-year-old’s bed, Utah cops say

A father fought off an intruder after a man was found hiding under his 7-year-old daughter’s bed, authorities in Utah told multiple news outlets.

Deputies responded to a home around 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 26 in Morgan, the Standard-Examiner reported.

Garrett Brent Henstra Bills, 25, had been hiding under a child’s bed while wearing black clothing and a shirt tied around his face like a mask, KSL reported.

When the child’s parents discovered the man in her room, the father fought with him, and the two fell down a staircase, injuring the child’s dad, the Standard-Examiner reported.

The child told authorities she had seen the man in her room multiple times over the past few weeks, KSL reported.

Bills is accused of touching the child’s buttocks during one visit, the Gephardt Daily reported.

Bills told authorities he didn’t know why he was in the home and said he could have been there to steal money, the news outlet reported.

He was arrested and faces charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated sex abuse of a child and two counts of burglary, KSL reported.

Morgan is about 45 miles northeast of Salt Lake City.

This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Dad fights off intruder after finding man hiding under 7-year-old’s bed, Utah cops say."

Helena Wegner

McClatchy DC

Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.