“I never thought it would be someone to hurt me,” Linda said about the person who came to the older couple’s rear door on March 8, 2013.
The home invasion and assault that took place almost a year ago on Munroe Avenue Ext. off of Westville Road and just past New Glasgow remains unsolved.
Pictou County RCMP are looking for community input from anyone who may know something about the incident, which took place at approximately 8:30 p.m.
The investigation revealed that a single male wearing a black balaclava mask entered the residence in the municipality with a firearm and assaulted both homeowners.
Money was demanded, but the suspect left without taking anything.
He’s described as being 5’8”, slim build, wearing dark pants and a jacket with a concealed face.
The male victim, Jeff Creaser, sustained injuries and was hospitalized for a short period of time.
“Investigators have followed up on leads… but they haven’t resulted in any arrests,” Cpl. Glenn Bonvie said.
The Creasers are hoping telling their story will bring someone forward, so they can fully move on with their life.
After answering the door, Linda let the man in, still under the assumption it was someone they knew.
He entered the home of the couple in their late 60s and began hollering someone else’s name.
“You have the wrong house,” Linda told him.
Jeff, who wears a hearing aid, didn’t come out right away because he didn’t hear the first time the man yelled.
He demanded money and pulled a gun on Linda, forcing her to stare down the barrel.
She told him they didn’t have any.
“I will shoot,” Linda remembers him saying.
The only thing she could see was his eyes.
“I had a hard time trying to pick out the colour of his eyes.”
Linda called for Jeff. She walked over to the sink and put her face in her hands.
Jeff came around the corner, and put his wallet on the edge of the stove after the man threatened him.
He took a step closer while the man did the same.
Jeff grabbed his arm, trying to get him out the door.
Jeff punched him before the man began pistol-whipping Jeff in the head and face.
That’s the last thing Jeff remembers before trying to get up out of a snow bank in his backyard.
Before they got outside through the still open door, Linda picked up a mug on the counter and whacked the man hard in the head, leaving him shuddering.
The man ended up turning around and leaving before the couple went back inside and hugged.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” Jeff said about the experience.
After they finished embracing, Linda called 911, asking for RCMP and an ambulance.
She told the operator Jeff was a heart patient. He’d had open-heart surgery within the last year.
It felt like no more than four minutes before they arrived to a back entryway with blood on the floor and wall.
Officers stayed with them at the house and the hospital until the couple’s sons came around 2:30 in the morning from the Annapolis Valley and Charlottetown.
Linda said they were all so kind and understanding.
“They certainly do their job.”
Jeff needed stitches for the deep cuts from the gun, but he wasn’t in any pain as blood ran down his face.
He now questions how he reacted in the situation, but it was all on instinct.
He feared retaliation at the beginning.
“He knows me and I don’t know him. That’s the worst part.”
When they came back to the house with their adult children, Linda tried unsuccessfully to sleep.
The next day was almost as hard as the actual experience.
“The worst of it began.”
That’s when people started calling and asking about it.
One of their sons told their friends to wait a few days – give them a chance to recoup.
“A couple of days don’t make a bit of difference,” Linda said.
All of this happened on a Friday night. They stayed in their home with their 43-year-old and 46-year-old sons until Saturday night, when they went back with their son to P.E.I. for a few days.
It’s still difficult for Linda to talk about, even after the time that’s passed.
“It doesn’t go away.”
She finds herself suspicious of young men, anyone resembling the description of the suspect, when she’s out at the mall or a grocery store.
She’s sleeping a lot better now. It’s only difficult when she has to talk about it.
“I don’t want this person to run my life.”
She’s thought and worried about the man’s parents and grandparents. She hopes he gets help, “for his family’s sake.”
Linda and Jeff are grandparents themselves with four granddaughters and one grandson.
For the most part, they’ve gotten on with their life.
They’re both retired, but Linda works at the Aberdeen Hospital once or twice a month when they need her.
She does sterilization in the basement. She feels safe there.
“I love the job.”
Jeff has never had any trouble sleeping. His eyes are shut the moment he lays down.
He’s had a defibrillator put in and his heart is working as well as it can.
He’s able to handle losing to his wife in their card games.
Although it was suggested to them, they never wanted to move.
They have good friends in the area they can call for a game of cards or golf.
They love their neighbourhood and know everybody near them. It’s been their home for 30 years.
Linda has mixed feelings about the man who entered their home. She wants to know who it was, but at the same time, she’d rather not find out.
Linda said it’s hard on their children to think of their parents being hurt, and they want to find out who is responsible as much as Linda and Jeff do.
“I like to think he’s sorry for what he did.”
He could have hit her too, but he didn’t. He didn’t seem like a bad person, Linda said.
She notes that a lot of people still don’t lock their doors in Pictou County and thinks that should change.
“There’s good things that come out of stories,” Jeff said, adding that people in the neighbourhood seem to be more cautious now.
Despite this incident, the RCMP say Pictou County is a safe place to live and residents shouldn’t be alarmed.
They are still investigating. If you have any information, you can contact the Stellarton office at 755-4141 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
On Twitter: @NGNewsAmanda
