Utah man finds stranger living in storage room of his basement

A Utah man says his sense of security is gone after discovering that a strange man had been living in the storage room of his basement.

Zeb Pischnotte told KSL-TV that a series of strange incidents led to the discovery at a home in Salt Lake City that he shared with a roommate.

'It just shattered the peace of mind that I have. This feels like a very safe neighborhood.'

Pischnotte says that his home was broken into on March 18 during a storm and someone stole his gold ring, his grandfather's cufflinks, and his university letterman jacket. Police responded to the call and searched the home, but found nothing, he says.

Four days letter, his cat Ziggy did something strange that made him take notice.

The cat was meowing at a laundry room door that was shut and is usually left open because it contains the pet's litter box.

Later that day, Pischnotte found that some of his wine bottles were out, and he asked his roommate about it. Suspecting someone was in the storage room, they armed themselves with a ski and opened the door.

They found empty food cans, tins of beans, about 10 empty wine bottles, and a filthy fleece on the floor.

Pischnotte believes that someone was living in the room for several days.

"Long story short, it's very likely that the person was living in that room for about four days," he said.

They believe that the person used Ziggy's litter box as a toilet and went through their stored personal items. Old student IDs and medical records had been removed from their boxes.

"This person was either very bored or very intent on trying to get my identity," Pischnotte explained.

He asked for help from the public to find the items stolen from him.

"It just shattered the peace of mind that I have," he added. "This feels like a very safe neighborhood."

He also had a message for whoever who broke into his home.

"I don't know why you thought you had to destroy property and steal things in order to make ends meet," said Pischnotte. "There are a lot of resources out there for homeless people, and I would really encourage you to look at those and take advantage of them. Heck, if you had just asked me for a coat or a blanket, I might have provided you one."

Video from the home and an interview with Pischnotte can be viewed on the KSL news report on YouTube.

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