HGTV personality Erin Napier is remembering a terrifying incident involving her 4-year-old daughter Helen that happened a year ago. The Home Town star urged parents on Wednesday to protect their children as she marked the anniversary of a scary incident involving her daughter, which she recounted in an emotional social media post.
Sharing a photo of an array of toys sitting on a table, Napier, who also shares 11-month-old daughter Mae with husband Ben Napier, admitted that May 4 is not her “favorite day.” She went on to reveal that it was a year ago on May 4, that she and her husband “were filming the reveal for Donelle’s episode and CBS Sunday Morning” when Ben began “getting messages from lots of folks in town.” Those messages were about a 54-year-old man from California who traveled to their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi dressed like a Star Wars Stormtrooper and “wearing an ankle monitor bracelet.” According to Napier, the man was “saying some very strange things. Things like ‘God sent me here to protect the women of Laurel, specifically little Helen,’” and purchased a house just a block away from theirs “and was living in it with nothing but a suitcase and these toys for when my 3 year old daughter ‘comes over to visit.’”
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Napier, who was nine months pregnant at the time, said she was “terrified.” After two weeks the man was eventually sent back to California — but before that, Napier said the man found Home Town cast members Mallorie and Jim Rasberry’s daughter while she was on a walk with her nanny “and said unsettling things. Disgusting things.” During this time, she said, “We all had 24-hour security officers at home, while we slept, while we worked.” Although Helen asked about them, Napier explained that “we never told her the truth,” instead telling her, “‘They work with us! They’re friends of ours who are staying with us for a little while!’”
“A year on, I still think of this thing every day but it doesn’t scare me anymore,” Napier concluded. “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.”
Napier’s post was met with an outpouring of support from Home Town fans, with one person writing, “So all you folks that ask for pictures of those sweet baby girls. This is why momma doesn’t post it.” Although the Napiers have never shied away from sharing glimpses at their personal lives, they have refrained from sharing any photos of their children showing their faces, a decision Napier has opened up about on numerous occasions.
