A woman was found living inside the sign on top of a Michigan grocery store late last month. We’ll repeat that, inside the sign. And as crazy as that is, it’s just the beginning. Because as it turns out, she’d been living up there for a full YEAR. Seriously!
Back on April 2023, contractors working at the Family Fare Supermarket in the city of Midland, Michigan became curious when they spotted an extension cord dangling off the roof. Concerned they’d left tools up there, they got onto the roof to investigate. And that’s when they made a startling discovery: a 34-year-old woman was living up there. But she wasn’t just living on the roof. She was living inside the Family Fare Supermarket sign!
Related: 10-Year-Old Boy ‘Played Dead’ To Survive Mom Trying To Drown Him
According to the Associated Press, the woman was homeless and had sought refuge from the weather inside the sign. She was not named by that media outlet or any others when the report of her unique housing situation first came to light on Friday. (No, it wasn’t Natalie Portman, but this was kind of like that movie she was in, Where The Heart Is)!!
It was cops in Midland who tipped the media off to the story. And those cops had a name for the woman: the Roof Ninja! Midland PD officer Brennon Warren told MLive.com about the department’s interaction with her:
“She was homeless. It’s a story that makes you scratch your head, just somebody living up in a sign.”
No kidding…
When Midland PD first showed up back in April, they interrogated the woman. She told them that she’d been living inside the sign for a little over a year by then. Even more interestingly, she confirmed that she had a job — not in the grocery store, but elsewhere — and would climb down for work every day before returning to the sign to sleep at night. OMG!
Related: Married Teacher Caught Naked In Car With Teen — Leading To Wild Police Chase!
Officer Warren estimated that the total living space inside the sign was about five feet wide and eight feet high. The sign has a door on the back of it, too, which is accessible on the roof. The woman had been using that extension cord to get power up there by plugging into an outlet on the roof. And once up there, she managed to create a pretty impressive makeshift home. Officer Warren stated:
“There was some flooring that was laid down. A mini desk. Her clothing. A Keurig coffee maker. A printer and a computer — things you’d have in your home.”
Wow!
But authorities are still confused as to how she got up there every day. Per the AP, there was no ladder nearby, and no obvious way for her to get on the roof of the actual supermarket. Officer Warren assumed that she had found a way to climb up and down via another business attached to the Family Fare store in the strip mall, but that part is still a mystery. He noted:
“I honestly don’t know how she was getting up there. She didn’t indicate, either.”
After she was found, the woman admitted to living up there and agreed to leave immediately. Officer Warren said she was extremely cooperative and polite. He also said they gave her some information about homeless services, but they didn’t know if she ended up taking them up on the offer:
“We provided her with some information about services in the area. She apologized and continued on her way. Where she went from there, I don’t know.”
Damn.
As for Family Fare’s role in all this, in a statement to USA Today and others, the store’s parent company SpartanNash said employees handled the situation with “the utmost compassion and professionalism.” Honestly, we just hope the woman has a safe place to go. But man, her ingenuity is incredible. Reactions??
[Image via 20th Century Fox/YouTube]
Related Posts
