Woman wakes up to stranger in her room, son chases him away before deputies arrest him

Deputies say a woman found a man she did not know in her Spokane Valley home around 1:15 a.m. Sunday, and her adult son chased the man away.

The woman said she woke up to the suspect, 30-year-old Nicholas J. Berry, standing in her bedroom of her home on the 10300 block of East Trent Avenue, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. When she yelled, Berry allegedly said, “Sorry, wrong house,” and ran away.

The woman said she called for her son, who ran upstairs and began chasing Berry down the street, deputies said.

The woman’s son told deputies he chased Berry as he ran from the home and that Berry threw the backpack he was wearing into a white truck as he ran past it. Berry then returned to the front yard of the residence, where deputies arrested him, the sheriff’s office said.

The backpack reportedly did not contain any stolen items from the home.

The woman told deputies all the kitchen cupboards were opened and other items in the home had been moved around.

Berry admitted to entering the house and that he didn’t have permission to do so, deputies said. He reportedly said he went there to see a friend he had not talked to in eight years.

Berry was booked into Spokane County Jail on suspicion of residential burglary. He was released on his own recognizance by the court later that day, the sheriff’s office said.