HAYWOOD COUNTY, Tenn. — The Haywood County Sheriff has charged a man with aggravated burglary and aggravated assault after a break-in April Fool’s Day near Stanton, Tennessee.
A woman who came face-to-face with Sherman Woodland, positively identified him as the armed intruder.
The woman has been so traumatized by what happened that she moved out of her home and is in counseling.
But she agreed to tell us her story on the condition we didn’t show her face or reveal her name.
“He’s always in my mind. He’s in my dreams. The sound of him kicking in the door, I hear that,” the woman told WREG.
She said she will never forget what happened at her Haywood County home on April Fools’ Day.
“I woke up to banging on the door like someone was angry. And rumor had it that someone was breaking into homes. So I went to get a knife,” said the woman.
She didn’t want her identity known, but said she was home alone and thought the person who just banged on her door had driven away.
But she was wrong.
She said Woodland was armed when he came back and kicked in the front door.
“I charged at him like this. And I was going to stab him, and that’s when he hurried up and pulled the gun out and he ran away,” said the woman as she described the events.
She said Woodland wasn’t in her home long enough to steal anything, except for her sense of security.
“I’m a witness. I’ve seen his face. I’ve seen him from head to toe,” the frightened woman told WREG.
Woodland turned himself into the Haywood County Sheriff, and the woman was able to make a positive ID after investigators showed her his picture.
She was shocked at what she saw.
“He had on the same shoes, pants and socks he had on the day he kicked in the door,” she said.
Woodland is in jail, held on a $250,000 bond.
The Haywood County Sheriff wouldn’t say if Woodland is connected to burglaries in nearby Fayette and Tipton counties.
Meantime, the victim we talked with said she is undergoing counseling.
And the thought of what might have happened that April Fools’ Day has changed her life forever.
“I want to stay alive. I have big hopes, big future. I’m in school, and I wish to pursue a law degree. And if I die I won’t ever get that chance,” said the Haywood County woman.