Machete-Wielding Woman Thwarts Home Intruder

A home intruder was no match for a woman with a machete. INSIDE EDITION spoke to the woman who turned the tables on a frightening situation.

Imagine waking from a deep sleep and seeing an enraged woman standing over you, wielding a razor-sharp machete.

That's what Teryl Parnell wanted to know as she waved her weapon over an intruder she found sleeping on her couch.

But let's start at the beginning on what was an otherwise ordinary morning at Teryl's home in Sacramento, California.

Teryl told INSIDE EDITION, "I'm just walking, going for my morning coffee, I look and I am like, 'What the...?'"

She says a young stranger was sound asleep in her living room.

She said, "I came around, slapped his feet off the couch, and I ask him, 'What are you doing with your feet on my couch? He's like, ‘I don't know, ma'am, I’m so sorry!’"

Then Teryl, an I.T. specialist, noticed her window had been smashed in, and her valuables had been piled on the floor.

The intruder had apparently taken a nap in the middle of a break-in.

Did Teryl panic? She did not. She decided to put him at ease.
 
She said, "I'm like, ‘Son, stay there, you look a little out of it. Let me make you a cup of coffee.’”

Instead, she phoned 911 and got out her trusty machete. Then she returned to the living room swinging the machete.

She told the intruder, "Sit here and put your butt on the ground because you are going to wait for the cops! You're going to go to jail!"

Sure enough, the intruder did as instructed.

Then, cops showed up and arrested 25-year-old Christopher Weaver. Teryl even took a picture of him in handcuffs, and he will certainly remember this sight for as long as he lives.

She said, "Some people have baseball bats. I have a machete."

The suspect plead no contest to trespassing and was sentenced to 21 days in jail.