Naked home invader arrested after becoming stuck in tree when he fell from cliff

A woman from Pendleton, Oregon, says a naked man walked into her house, tried to hug her and said: "Hi honey." He later had to be rescued after running from police, falling down a cliff and getting stuck in a tree. Gail Wilson has muscular dystrophy. Her muscles are weak and the disease makes it hard to get around. However, Gail is a former corrections officer who knows how to handle herself. She says, he training may have saved her life. It all started on Saturday when Gail says she was eating some soup in her house and a man appeared at her door completely naked.



Gail first thought the man was the victim of an accident or crime, but quickly realised that wasn't the case. Gail says the naked man had a big grin on his face, said “Hi honey!" and opened his arms while walking toward her. “With my muscular dystrophy, I needed him to get close enough to me so I had the strength to push him away,” Gail said. “My first thoughts were, this is it. This is my time. He's going to rape me, beat me, kill me.” The man was later identified as 30-year-old Steven Burton. Gail gave him a shove on his chest and told him to get away.



Gail says he sat down on her scooter for a while and looked around the room. Then, he grabbed her dog and took it down the hall into one of the bedrooms where he was gone for a few minutes. Gail was still on the phone with 911 and the dispatcher told Gail to ask for his name when he returned. Gail says, when she asked, he got mad and ran out the door. While running from police, Burton jumped over a fence on the property and tumbled down a steep hill forty to fifty feet until he got his foot stuck in a tree. “That's a long drop and he did a lot of tumbling.



“All I can say is, he's lucky he's alive. He's lucky those trees caught his foot,” Gail said. “I'm thankful it wasn't my time and I'm thankful that he chose my house instead of some young girl's house, because the outcome could have been totally different.” Gail says she is grateful to the Pendleton Police Department, especially Sgt. Charles Byrum, who helped her through the scary ordeal. Gail said she usually keeps her pistol in her bedroom and couldn't get to it. She says, she'll have it in her front room from now on. As for Burton, search and rescue crews pulled him up. He was taken to the hospital for examination and cops arrested him on charges of burglary, harassment, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

With news video.