Intruders stab Burnsville man, start fires, flee

Wanda Trousil was asleep early Sunday morning when a bang against the bedroom wall of her townhouse in Burnsville startled her awake shortly before 5 a.m.

Her toy poodle, Paddi, soon began barking furiously as someone desperately pounded on the front door and rang the doorbell. Trousil opened the door to find her next-door neighbor, Paul Traub, leaning against her home, his face covered in blood as it dripped and splattered onto her porch in the 13600 block of Knox Drive.

"It blew my mind to see him," she said Sunday afternoon. "He told me he was going to die."

Burnsville police said the 53-year-old man was stabbed several times by two men who then set his home ablaze in several places before fleeing in his car.

"It looked like he just ran into a brick wall doing 60 [miles per hour]; his face was all bloody," said Trousil's son, Craig Trousil.

Police said Traub told them he did not know his attackers, who may have been attracted to his home in the four-plex by his car parked in an open garage.

No suspects had been arrested Sunday night.

"It appears to be a crime of opportunity at this point," said Sgt. Daniel Carlson, of the Burnsville Police Department. "We do know that he did leave his garage door open, and that was an inviting factor to some degree."

Traub was recovering at Hennepin County Medical Center on Sunday and is conscious and speaking, said Terry Quigley, who is married to Traub's ex-wife. Traub is scheduled to undergo surgery today to remove part of a knife that remains embedded in his head, said Quigley, who also plays on a softball team with Traub.

"We're just all shocked," Quigley said. "It's a pretty cowardly act, and I don't understand it."

Detectives are still working to determine whether Traub was stabbed with his own knife or whether it belonged to the burglars. The attack apparently began when he surprised the intruders, Carlson said.

"He confronted them when he heard the rustling, and basically they very quickly assaulted him and stabbed him," Carlson said.

Traub ran to Trousil's house when he heard the suspects pull away in his vehicle. The car was found abandoned about five blocks away.

Investigators said they weren't sure why the fires were set, other than to possibly cover the burglars' tracks. Carlson said the fire caused substantial damage to Traub's house, but the other homes in the building do not appear to have been damaged.

Neighbors described Traub as a quiet, helpful neighbor who has lived in his townhouse for about 10 years. He routinely took out Wanda Trousil's trash and watched her home when she was away.

"He's a real nice guy," said Craig Trousil. "I can't believe something like that happened to him."

The neighborhood, west of Interstate 35W just off Kenwood Trail, is mostly single-family homes and has a fairly low crime rate, Carlson said.

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