Photo: Manny Carabel/Getty Images
Erin Napieris opening up about a chilling incident in her small town of Laurel, Mississippi.
“We were filming the reveal for Donelle’s episode [ofHome Town] andCBS Sunday Morningwhen Ben started getting messages from lots of folks in town about a 54-year-old California man dressed like aStar Warsstorm trooper, wearing an ankle monitor bracelet, who had come to town and was saying some very strange things.”
The photo she posted included a blurry image of several Barbie dolls, along with a baseball and a miniClifford The Big Red Dogstuffed animal amid a playset. In the post, Napier detailed the man bought a house one block from her family’s; he lived with nothing in it except a suitcase and the pictured toys for when her then 3-year-old daughter “comes to visit,” she wrote in quotes using his words.
Napier spoke with PEOPLE about the incident, sharing she was also pregnant at the time.
“It was really, really scary at the time. When you’re nine and a half months pregnant everything feels elevated,” she says. “So even more intense and stressful than it normally would be.” Erin and Benwelcomed their second daughter, Mae, on May 28, 2021.
She said the day it happened, she and Ben were trying to film, but he seemed distant as he kept staring at his phone and leaving the room.
“No one wanted me to know. Everybody was trying to keep it from me because I was pregnant and stressed out,” she says. “And then when we got in the car and he told me what was going on, it scared me to death, gave me chills. I haven’t talked about it at all publicly since then.”
TheHome Townstarsaid they had 24-hour security officers at home while they slept and worked in order to protect their family. “[Helen] had no idea why [the security officer] was there or who he was, but we just pretended he was a friend of ours and she was like, ‘Mommy why does he sleep in his car in the driveway?’ and we said, ‘He just likes to,'” she tells PEOPLE.
Despite the bizarre occurrence, the mom of two is sure “it’ll never happen again” and she tells PEOPLE she and Ben would never leave Laurel.
“It was such a weird one-time thing, but no, we’re good. We’re fine,” she adds.
Looking back on the incident, she wrote, “I’m thankful for the way our neighborhood guarded us and put up a hedge of protection when we needed it and it further validated what I already knew: protect your kids in the online world much as you can.”
Erin Napier and daughter Helen.Ben Napier/ instagram
Napier has been vocal about not posting her daughter’s face on social media. In December of 2020, she deleted anInstagram photoof the back of Helen’s head after backlash ensued. She then shared another post addressing why.
Antonia DeBianchi
source: people.com
