Elderly Fresno woman scares off man accused of trying to break into her home

FRESNO, Calif. -- A 104-year-old woman stood her ground in the Tower District when a burglar tried to break into her home and she managed to scare him off. Lydia shared her story, but she only wanted to use her first name.

Lydia moved into the Tower District in 1946 and she said back then, the neighborhood was a safe place. "We never had to lock our houses, we never had to lock our cars," she said.

Times have changed and fear has set in. Lydia is now alone in the home where she raised her family and she hasn't been able to sleep since Thursday, the night she heard a noise at her window. "It was an unusual noise, so I thought I'd get up," she said.

Outside, she said there was a man looking in - a shadowy figure, trying to cut through the screen so she turned on the lights. "It disappeared....he must have run away," Lydia said.

Hours later, there was still evidence of the attempted break-in. The screen was sliced open, her fence was broken and there were two big footprints in the flower bed but Lydia didn't call police. "I've heard they are so busy and some little thing like this...they just have to skip it," she said.

"I was upset, I was mad," said Connie Carlos who lives next door.

Carlos keeps an eye on Lydia, as best she can. "I always look out here, every night," Carlos said to Lydia.

"Yeah, you tell me when I leave my garage open too," Lydia replied.

In all these years, seven decades to be exact, Lydia said, this was the first time anyone has tried to break into her home.

Carlos said, "probably will never happen again."

Lydia replied saying: "I hope not, but you never know."

Life in the Tower District, Lydia said, isn't what it used to be. "It's not going to get better, it isn't," she said. However, it is still her home. "And right now I can take care of myself," Lydia said.