Family captures convicted killer lurking in yard, peering in teen’s bedroom window

‘How did he know there was a 17-year-old child there?’, asks Polka County sheriff

A convicted killer was arrested after he was videoed peeking into a 17-year-old’s bedroom and into the windows of a family home in Polk County, Florida.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, Santos Pantoja visited the home on 24 May and on 28 May, and was caught on camera.

Sarah Martinez, the victim, said she “saw the man surreptitiously looking into her windows” and went out to confront Pantoja, but he drove away in a truck.

A neighbour then installed a security camera, which videoed Pantoja returning to the home in Aubudndale on 28 May, when he was again confronted.

Pantoja allegedly told a neighbour he was looking for his daughter who was missing, but Ms Martinez contacted the company on his truck, confirming it was Pantoja’s — who had no work in the area.

Ms Martinez then called 911, and Pola County sheriff’s deputies arrested and charged Pantoja with burglary, possession of burglary tools, stalking, and voyeurism.

Polka County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a video that Pantoja was “a bad man, he’s already been to state prison on two occasions, once for manslaughter, a lot of burglaries, a lot of grand thefts, on two different occasions”.

“He was prowling around and trying to peep into the window of a 17-year-old child, that’s right. There’s two victims there, mum and the daughter.”

The sheriff said Pantoja was in custody, and that investigations were ongoing, because “how did he know there was a 17-year-old child there?”

Ms Martinez told WFLA-TV, a local TV station, that "Being able to see those videos is chilling” and that her daughter was “scared”,

"You can see there's a point where he reaches up and pushes on my daughter's window to see if it's unlocked, I'm presuming. That is just something that I can't stop thinking about."