Home Break-In Suspect Allegedly Used Meth, Thought He Was Being Chased

A Lawrenceburg resident was sitting at her kitchen table when a stranger forced his way into her home.

Brandon J. Case. Photo by Dearborn County Sheriff's Department.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - A suspect allegedly told police he had used meth before he broke into a woman’s home in Lawrenceburg.

A woman was sitting at the kitchen table in her Bielby Road home Thursday morning, January 17 when a man she did not know came up to the door. She attempted to keep the stranger from coming in by pushing against the door, but he overpowered her and gained entry, according to a court affidavit.

The alleged intruder was later identified as Brandon J. Case.

Upon entering the home, Case told the resident to lock the door. She did. When he left the kitchen, she called 911.

Officers quickly arrived and were met by the woman who fled her house. She was visibly upset and shaking.

Case did not follow officers' commands to come out of the home. The police soon entered found Case hiding in insulation of the home’s attic by placing boxes and items on top of himself. He was taken into custody.

Police tracked Case's fresh footprints in the snow to a nearby home. That resident told officers she had witnessed a man banging on her door earlier. His footprints were tracked to yet a third home where the resident said somebody had unlatched his door and let his dog outside. 

Case was taken to the hospital before going to jail. Officers spoke with him there, where he allegedly told them he had abused opiates and methamphetamine within the previous day. He told police he believed "persons had been pursuing him."

Case, 39, of Lawrenceburg, is now in jail at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center charged with Residential Entry (level 6 felony), Attempted Residential Entry (level 6 felony), Burglary (level 4 felony), Resisting Law Enforcement (class A misdemeanor), and Criminal Mischief (class B misdemeanor).