Featured Image Credit: KMVT
Topics: Crime, US News, News, True Crime, Parenting
Rhianna Benson
Until her absent husband noticed something rather sinister whilst glancing over their home's mobile CCTV footage, a mother-of-two had no idea that an armed intruder had entered her Idaho property and attempted to kidnap her daughter.
Now, Kiana Mae Greener-Gibson is pleading with fellow parents to remain vigilant around their children, even when in the safety of their own home.
Back in April of last year, Kiana was tending to her newborn baby girl in one of the bedrooms of their one-storey northwest home.
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At the time, her other four-year-old daughter was played in the home's living room area, accompanied only by the family's two pet dogs, who were relaxing inside their overnight cages.
Suddenly, Kiana heard the canine's burst into a flurry of barks.
Being that the family pets often alerted their owners when the door was innocently approached by the likes of delivery workers or post men, however, the distracted mother thought nothing of it, and continued tending to her newborn.
It wasn't until Kiana later received a text from her husband - who was working away from home at the time - inquiring about the identity of the man who he'd spotted on CCTV wandering hanging around outside property, that the mum's worst nightmare was realised.
It turned out that, not only had the unidentified man been investigating the home's exterior, but according to an alert that her husband had received, he'd actually entered the property through the front door.
Initially confused by her partner's concerning message, Kiana went on to assess Reolink and Ring security cameras that the parents-of-two had set up around both the inside and outside of their house.
What the doting mother later saw in the recordings instantly made her blood run cold.
In the exterior video filmed earlier that day, a man - armed with a colossal kitchen knife - was seen to be acting suspiciously around the property's front door.
The internal footage then recorded the stranger entering the home, triggering the dogs' noisy response, before bending down to pick up Kiana's daughter.
The man could then be seen temporarily pausing, as the animals continued their barking, seemingly attempting to alert their owners about the unknown intruder.
After a few seconds, the armed man could be seen propping Kiana's toddler back down onto the floor, and leaving the property through the front door.
Speaking to KMVT in the days after the potentially-fatal intrusion, the heartbroken mother revealed that by the time she'd finished seeing to her youngest child, there was no sign of the man about the property.
"She could have been gone and I had no idea, I was in the bedroom with the baby and so that’s when we called the police and came and got our statement and everything," Kiana said of her daughter.
Naturally, the terrified mum insists she'll no longer leave her property unlocked, even if she and her family are inside, and is urging other parents to take similarly drastic precautions.
"Just never can be too careful anymore. I felt Burley was a safe town, small town that you could leave your door unlocked and feel pretty safe," she admitted.
"I guess it’s just not to take it for granted and lock your doors from now on."
Local man Briayan Vergara Wednesday has since been arrested on several charges, including many from incidents which occurred prior to last year's attempted kidnapping.
The 28-year-old is being charged with rape, kidnapping in the second degree, battery with intent to commit a serious felony, aggravated assault, assault or battery upon certain personnel, resisting arrest and three counts of burglary.