'It's very creepy': Police issue warning after rash of prowling incidents near McMaster

Nicole Clarke had just stepped out of the shower and started painting her nails when she heard a quiet rustling noise outside her bedroom door.

The 24-year-old assumed it must be her mom and called out to ask what she was doing.

That's when she heard panicked footsteps pound up the stairs and the sound of the back door of her Haddon Avenue home slamming shut.

• Police searching for suspect after women wakes up to man sexually assaulting her

Shocked, she went upstairs and woke her mom. A search of the home revealed a slashed window screen and a lamp that had been knocked over. Clarke said they called police.

"It's just very creepy," she said."I literally had a towel wrapped around my head. I had just come out of the shower so I was not dressed, very vulnerable."

Clarke's experience is one of a handful of break and entersover the past month that have targetedwomen in Westdale, a neighbourhood near McMasterUniversity. On Wednesday the school issued a special security alert for students, the same daypolice announced they're investigating a third incident is just over a month involving an alleged prowler. Police acknowledge there are other break and enter incidents in they area they are also looking at.

Clarke's case is in addition to the three prowler incidents cited by police, which include two home invasions fromAugust where women woke up to find strangers in their room.

The third incident happenedTuesday when officers were called to a home on HaddonAvenue North around 11 p.m. after a woman living in the home told police she saw a man standing on her garage roof, staring through a second-storey window.

Even walking to school in the daylight I'm constantly looking around me, uncomfortable.- Bryana Hume, McMasterUniversity student

The man ran away after the woman spottedhim, according to police.

Officers searched the area with the help of a K9 unit, but did not find the suspect.

The man is described as "university age" by police. He's white with blondehair covering his forehead and was wearing a black baseball hat.

Police not linking incidents

Police say while there are commonalities between the cases it's too early to say if they're linked.

"Obviously they have some sort of similarities, that's why we're trying to investigate a potential link, but we can't definitively say that's what's happening," said Const. Lorraine Edwards.

On August 28, a woman called police after realizing an unknown man was in her Bond Street South bedroom.

• Second woman inWestdalewakes up to find strange man in her room: police

She screamed for help and police say the man ran away before she could get a good look at him.

In a separate incident, a sleeping 21-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, police say, after a mancrawled through hersecond-storey window and into her room.

Footsteps in the night

The Westdale area is popular withMcMasterUniversity students living off-campus, including Bryanna Hume, who said she came home from a night out with her roommatesSaturdayto find one of their kitchen windows open and the screen bashed out.

Unsettled, she and one of her housemates searched the home for intruders before locking themselves in her bedroom.

As they drifted off to sleep, Hume said she heard footsteps running across the floor upstairs, then the sound of the front door opening. Theyreported the break and enterto police, but Hume said she can't shake the uncomfortable feeling the house is being watched.

"Now, even walking to school in the daylight I'm constantly looking around me, uncomfortable and stuff. That'sthe thing that sucks so much, that we don't feel safe in our own home or neighbourhood," she explained.

The third-year student added shehasn't slept well since that night and planned to sleep over at a friend's home out of town Wednesday night, just to get some rest.

McMaster spokesperson Gord Arbeausaid the school is aware of the incidents and is working with police.

"The university places a high priority on the safety and well-being or our students and community," he wrote in an email to CBCNews."We have worked with Hamilton Police to ensure information is available widely and encourage all members of the community to take care, to ensure doors are locked and windows secured."

Double-checking locks before bed

Both Hume and Clarke say they think the incidents have too much in common to be a coincidence. They've taken to double-checking the locks on their doors and windows before going to bed.

"Me and my roommates were never unsafe, we always locked out doors and everything," said Hume. "But there are things you miss, like obviously we hadn't locked out basement window completely and that's something that can end really badly."

Anyone who spots suspicious activity aroundMcMasterUniversity is asked to call Hamilton policeat 905-546-4861,McMasterSecurity Dispatch at 905-525-9140 ext.24281 or 911 for a crime in progress.