A man was arrested Monday morning after entering three different unlocked Central Campus apartments over the past two weekends.
The suspect was identified as Hodari Grant, a 35-year old male from Wake Forest, North Carolina. He was apprehended after a female student caught him entering her apartment Sunday morning. Police then conducted an investigation to determine whether Grant was also responsible for two Central Campus break-ins that occurred last week. After conferring with the victims of these crimes, authorities now believe that Grant is connected with all three break-ins.
“The same individual who was arrested and charged for the burglary on Sunday morning has now been charged with the two prior burglaries on Central Campus,” Emergency Coordinator Kyle Cavanaugh said. “Through the evidence that was obtained during the first two burglaries and through piecing everything together and through interviews today, this all came together.”
Junior Caitlin Plaut, a resident of the apartment that was broken into April 14, said that she was reassured to know that the man responsible for breaking into her apartment was in custody.
“When I found out that he had been caught it made me feel… comforted,” Plaut said. “It definitely makes it easier to sleep at night knowing that the guy who stole [my] sunglasses is in jail.”
Plaut said an officer for the Duke University Police Department came to her door the night the suspect was caught breaking into another girl’s apartment this past weekend. The officer wanted more information so the police department could apprehend the suspect, Plaut noted. Before Plaut and her roommate were able to identify the suspect, however, police found enough evidence to hold Grant in jail.
Residents of Central Campus were notified of the apprehension through an email containing the link to a Duke Today article about the preceding events. A DukeALERT was not necessary given the immediate apprehension of the suspect, Cavanaugh said.
Plaut agreed, stating that DukeALERTs only apply to situations that present “imminent danger.”
“It was a week later and I’m sure a bunch of people who weren’t directly affected by it forgot about it,” Plaut said. “I don’t think it warrants a DukeALERT.”
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