On the inside of the door of her apartment in Savage, Kim Hoang's worried father has taped a note:

Lock Your Door.

The warning went up on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after one of the college student's close neighbors reported that their 7-year-old daughter woke up to find an intruder in her bedroom.

It was the second time in about 10 days that a man had tried to enter a child's bedroom at the Hidden Valley apartment complex.

"We live in the same building," Hoang said Wednesday, as she and other residents at Hidden Valley dealt with the discomfort produced by the two incidents. "It really freaked me out."

Investigators with the Savage Police Department believe the incidents are related and involve the same person.

"It's too much of a coincidence," said police spokesman Capt. David Muelken. "We're looking at them as being connected. We don't have a sense of why. In 30-plus years of police work in this city, I can't think of another time we've had two such attempts."

Jill Gannon, property manager at the 92-unit complex, said she spent parts of Tuesday and Wednesday answering questions and calming rattled nerves.

"We're working with police," Gannon said. "I'm taking care of my residents."

The incidents have clear similarities, Muelken said. In both cases, two children lived in the units. The screens to the kids' bedrooms were removed. And the two units are only a few yards from each other, sharing a walkway and a grassy area in the back.

The one difference is that in the most recent break-in, which took place shortly after midnight on Tuesday, the intruder actually made it into the bedroom of two children.

In the first incident, on Aug. 28, Muelken said, the person was interrupted by the residents, who heard a noise and walked outside to find a chair under their kids' bedroom window and the screen removed. The children in that unit are 7 and 2.

"It's really creepy," said Emily Jorgenson, a college student and a friend of Hoang's who was at the complex on Wednesday morning. "There's a school next door."

Two, in fact. The building where the incidents happened, in the 4400 block of W. 137th Street, is next to Hidden Valley Elementary School and Eagle Ridge Junior High School.

It also abuts Glendale Road, a busy road that runs past the schools.

Muelken said the department has not asked the schools to change any procedures.

"We'll leave that up to the schools," he said.

The school district on Wednesday said parents had been notified and that information about the incidents would be placed on the district website. "It's not really [affecting] us directly," said district spokeswoman Ruth Dunn.

"We are not adding anything different. We already have a number of safety measures in place."

Citywide notice

After the second incident, police sent out a citywide e-mail alert and advised parents to secure their homes and to closely supervise their children.

The intruder did not take anything or harm the girl or her 5-year-old brother, and Muelken said the man did not say anything to the children. He said police are still trying to determine why the girl woke up. Investigators do not know how long the man might have been in the bedroom.

Savage police have increased patrols and will use unmarked cars and plainclothes officers around the neighborhood, Muelken said.

A description of the suspect is not available. Muelken said investigators are looking at all sex offenders in the city.

"That is a lead to look at and a place to start," Muelken said.

He said the department has also asked surrounding Twin Cities police departments if they've had similar cases involving children.

"It's really odd that he would go into a kid's bedroom and not take anything," Jorgenson said. "There are a lot of sick people out there."

Residents shaken

Hoang said she and other residents are shaken up.

"I'm still freaked out," Hoang said Wednesday morning. "I had to go do my laundry last night and didn't want to."

Muelken said the location is not considered a problem property, and neighbors within walking distance said they hadn't noticed anything unusual in recent weeks.

"It usually is very quiet," said Roger Kocherer, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years. "We get along very well."

Nieves and Ray Planes said they have also lived in their home for about 15 years. The couple sometimes walk their dog near the apartment complex, a couple of blocks away.

"We raised our kids here and never had a problem," Nieves Planes said. "It's kind of scary."

"It caught everybody with their mouth open," Ray Planes said.

Anyone with information about either incident is asked to call police at 952-882-2600.

Heron Marquez • 952-707-9994