I am VERY familiar with th layout of their house, because I grew up in one just like it. By age 9 or 10, I was able to jump down the last few steps on the staircase, if I was in a rush. I don't know any child who can't run down a flight of steps quickly. So, I think SuziQ could be right that if a ninja, dwarf ninja or alien, was to get into the house and they didn't know that the family was up or some of them was up, then how would he have did the rest of his plan? I'm thinking of super ninjas, form the movies, but three people, getting ready to leave the house, someone would have noticed a ninja coming for them and screamed. That scream would have alerted the house. If Sheri knew that there were threats against her, she would have called the LE, maybe she had a direct line, since they already had contact with the LE. Unless the ninja came prepared, the older child was on the football team and the baseball team. He may have had some skill in flailing his arms wildly and kicking like mad, which may have injured the ninja in some way. even ninjas can be kicked in the groin. I know that if the older boy or the younger could not have done anything, they may have tried to run for it. If a child came out of that house, screaming, the neighbors would have been on that house in a minute or less. Whcih means cops would have been there in under a minute. In Columbia, the cops dispatch the closest one, even if he is off, so that would have been the detective. The detective would have had to wake up, get some coffee and a gun and run over there or just run over there, as he may have herad the screaming.
My Point: if the family was awake, then there would have been commotion that would have surprised any would-be killer. Whcih woudl have caused chaos.
