ST. LOUIS, Missouri — (KMOV) -- Imagine calling 911 and no one ever shows up. It happened to a couple when a weapon-wielding stranger ransacked their garage and wandered around their yard for hours. They called 911 four times, but no officer ever arrived.
Rose and Joe Everett's peaceful place is their Dupo, Illinois home where they've lived for 40 years. But one night this summer, their peace was shattered, with all the evidence caught on camera.
“You could see the agitation in his face, the look on his face, it was scary. It was scary,” said Cathy Augustine, the couple’s daughter.
In their surveillance video you can see a shirtless stranger, first, ransacking their garage.
Joe Everett grabbed his gun.
“He said ‘you’re not going to shoot me, are you?’ and I said, ‘well, I sure am thinking about it,’” Joe Everett said.
But the man refused to leave all together and instead of shooting, the couple just hid inside. Naturally, they called 911 and according to dispatch tapes, a Dupo officer indicated he'd take the call.
But he never showed up.
On their surveillance video, the Everetts watched as the man made himself at home, in and out of their garage over and over, helping himself to their stuff.
The Everetts called 9-1-1 again and again and again. And no officer showed.
Meanwhile, the man grew more agitated, swinging a metal pole and breaking stuff.
“He was taking my solar lights and throwing them on the ground and busting them, and smacking them, taking things, turning them over and pulling them out of the ground,” Joe Everett said.
The Everetts' fear and frustration was evident in the final 911 call. Looking back, their daughter says it could have gone horribly wrong.
“No officer came here to see if they were okay, to see if they were killed, nothing. Nothing," Augustine said. "They could have been here dead and no one would have known until I came here the next day."
Finally, after close to two hours, the man just wandered away. But the Everetts still wanted answers.
A dispatcher had repeatedly promised an officer would show up. Stating they were on a death call, the dispatcher, the Everetts said, got kind of snippy.
“I am sorry a dead man is taking up their time. They will get to you as soon as they can,” the dispatcher said.
But Augustine says there is no excuse to allow a call like this to go unanswered.
“Take responsibility, you guys messed up. Simple as that," Augustine said. "But it could have been at a major cost."
“I do apologize to them, no family should have to go through that,” said Dupo Chief Kevin Smith.
“I would like the Everetts to know that I feel terrible about what happened and when they call 911 they should expect a police officer to show up in a relatively quick manner,” said Smith.
He says his officers should have followed-up after finishing the death call and one officer has been disciplined
But he says there's another issue: dispatch dropped the ball.
“Do you think this was a problem with how this was dispatched out?” asked Investigative Reporter Lauren Trager.
“The way they dispatched it was for a suspicious person. But if you listen to the 9-1-1 call, the lady is frantic and saying 'he is in my garage,' that's not a suspicious person anymore,” Smith said.
Had they known, Smith said, officers would have responded much differently. This has apparently happened in the past.
We reached out to the head of dispatch, Herb Simmons, who says a supervisor reviewed all the tapes, he declined an interview but told us "all dispatch protocol was followed."
Hopefully there are some more future talks with dispatch to figure this out.
“What happens if the next guy is a murderer or whatever,” Augustine said.
Rose and Joe Everett say they felt violated, like prisoners in their own home. The video and 9-1-1 calls still give them chills.
“I don't want anyone to have to hear their parents make a 9-1-1 call and hear the fear in their voice, the way I have had to,” Augustine said. “My parents never want anyone else to have to go through this."
We were told the suspect was later picked up by a neighboring department and dropped off at the Metro Link station.
Jacob Anderson has now been charged with burglary.
The chief says they will now treat every single call as an emergency, in order to avoid something like this from happening again.
