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Cary teen recalls frightening home break-in attempt

Two Cary girls were home Tuesday afternoon when they say two men kicked in their back door in an attempted burglary.

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CARY, N.C. — It's one of parents' worst fears – their child is home alone, perfectly capable of being so – when someone tries to break in.

It actually happened Tuesday afternoon to 14-year-old Skyler Trantham, of Cary, and her 11-year-old sister, who were watching TV while they waited for their parents to get home from work.

Skyler said Thursday that she first realized something was wrong when two men arrived at her front door around 2:45 p.m. and rang the doorbell.

The girls didn't answer. The men left, and about 15 minutes later, returned and started kicking in a back door.

Skyler says she and her sister ran into a back bedroom to hide.

"I called 911, and I'm like, 'There's somebody trying to break into my house. Send somebody now,'" she said Thursday.

The would-be burglars looked in the bedroom and spotted them.

"(I thought), 'Are they going to come in here and hurt me or are they going to kill me or something?'" she said. "I didn't know what was going to happen."

Luckily, the suspects fled in what Skyler says was a white Ford Flex with a black roof.

Cary Police Capt. Randall Rhyne says the girls' reactions were textbook examples of what to do in such a situation.

"They did exactly the right thing by finding a safe place and calling 911 and staying on the phone with the dispatcher until police arrived."

Mom Birgul Trantham was working when her daughters texted her about what happened.

"I was going crazy," she said. "I'm very proud of them."

Police are still looking for the two men.

Investigators said one of the men as black, in his mid-20s or early 30s, about 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds. He has short, curly hair and a full beard and mustache.

The other is also black, about the same age, about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 180 pounds. He had patchy facial hair and short dreadlocks.

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