Even after she woke the house with her screams, Marilyn Resnick didn't tell anyone what she had seen for fear of being sent to a mental institution. The Resnicks bought their house in Rancho Circle in 1973. It was and is an impressive place in an exclusive neighborhood. It had been owned by former Lt. Gov. Cliff Jones. President Lyndon Johnson once stayed there.

On the Resnicks' second night in the house, at around 2:30 a.m., Marilyn heard what sounded like footsteps in the attic above her bedroom. Then the burglar alarm went off. A Rancho Circle security guard and the police searched the house and found nothing.