Girl Keeps a Cool Head, Calls Cops

Registered sex offender broke in while Vanessa Paez was in the shower.

ByABC News via logo
June 18, 2008, 3:10 PM

June 19, 2008 — -- Around 9 a.m. on June 11, 15-year-old Vanessa Paez was home alone and showering while Clifford Deed casually sauntered through her neighborhood in Stockton, Calif.

The teen could not have known that only minutes later she would be in the bathroom, wedged between the sink and the door, and calling 911 in a frenzy to report a home invasion as Deed, a registered sex offender, allegedly ransacked her house and tried to force his way into the bathroom, according to police.

Vanessa told "Good Morning America" this morning what happened after Deed allegedly kicked in the back door of her home.

"When I was getting dressed, that's when he started banging on my door," she said.

Paez thought initially that she could hide in her bedroom, but soon, she said, Deed realized that someone was there and allegedly tried to get in. She then retreated to the bathroom that was connected to her room and used her 100 pound body to barricade the door shut.

"I was in the bathroom for, I don't know how many minutes, but it was a long time," she said. "While I was pushing the door, he was pushing the door, too."

Only inches of wood separated Paez from the nearly 200 pound Deed, who she said was banging on the door.

Deed then allegedly ransacked the house in search of valuables. But Vanessa, by staying on the phone with 911 throughout her ordeal during which she repeatedly asked the dispatcher to "hurry, please" was able to fend off her attacker until police arrived and arrested Deeds.

Deed is a registered sex offender and parolee who, police allege, randomly targeted Vanessa's home.

Deed, who was wearing an ankle-bracelet monitoring device at the time of the incident, has been charged with burglary and parole violation, according to Stockton police. He remains in jail.

"Due to the levelheaded thinking of the victim, she kept herself out of harm's way and assisted the police in taking a dangerous felon off the street," police said in a statement.

As for Vanessa, "I'm doing better now. I never thought I could have done that."