- A mother of five said her children are afraid to sleep in their own rooms after finding a man living in the attic of their home.

She asked Newschannel 36 not to identify her by name because the man who was living in her attic is still on the loose, but said she heard a thump coming from the ceiling after she put her children to bed Saturday night.

"Then all the nails just popped out of the ceiling over my bed. Like 'bing, bing, bing,'" said the woman.

Thinking it was an animal, she asked her older sons and adult nephew to check out what was happening upstairs.

"They found a man. He had packed all the old coats and jackets into the heating unit and was sleeping in the heating unit," she said, adding that the man ran downstairs and out of the house before police could get there.

Officers did find several "Route 44" Sonic cups filled with feces and urine in the attic. The man also appeared to have rigged the ceiling vents so he could see into the woman's bedroom.

The woman did recognize the person living in her attic as a man she'd hired to remodel her home after a house fire last year. He was convicted of stealing her truck earlier this year. He finished serving that sentence and was released from jail two weeks ago.