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TAYLORSVILLE — The sound of footsteps is enough to wake anyone up, especially at 4 a.m.
Taylorsville resident Whitney Hasler endured a worrisome experience Thursday morning when she heard something coming from downstairs inside her home in the middle of the night. Hasler woke her husband up, who went downstairs to check it out.
"And then I opened my eyes … and I saw somebody walk past our kitchen there," she said. "The guy was laying right here, laying on the floor. He had his coat over his head trying to hide here," Hasler said.
Her husband told the guy to leave, and he did. It turns out, the man was one of three people law enforcement officers were looking for Thursday morning following a chase that started in West Valley City and ended in Taylorsville. Police say the men dumped their car and ran near Bastile Drive.
"Took us a little while to search that area with a dog, but we finally found all three of them," said West Valley City Police Lt. Steve Burke.
The man who was hiding in the Hasler home was caught outside. The other two were found in an RV.
"Well, they had to hide somewhere, didn't they?" said John Allen, who owns the RV.
Allen checked the RV, noticed it was locked from the inside, and gave police permission to search it.
"It's a darn good thing we didn't decide to open it up at the time, because if you can stay away from tussles, definitely stay away from tussles," Allen said.
It's also a reminder to lock the doors in your RV, as well as any backyard doors, which is how the one man got into Hasler's home.
"I'm pretty good to lock it, but in general, I think, ‘Oh, it's up on a deck, sometimes the screen is open,' and it's nice to have some air," Hasler said. "Not again."
The three people arrested were David Madden, 40, Michael Stoltenberg, 32, and Greicce Salazar, 34. All three were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and could possibly face multiple charges.
Contributing: Xoel Cardenas
