INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The burglar freaked out before using the panic door and called 911 constantly for helpJust before 5 a.m
on Sunday Robert Bertrand received a voice mail from the Clark County Sheriff's Office: It looks like you were burglarized last night
Give 911 a call.Someone had broken into his Vancouver, Washington, escape room, an interactive choose-your-adventure game where customers
are locked inside and find clues that will lead them out."I ran upstairs," Bertrand, 40, told The Washington Post; his wife, Tamara, was
still asleep in their bedroom
"I said, 'Tamara, you've got to get up
Things are going down, we've got to get to work.'"Within minutes, they arrived at NW Escape Experience, the business they opened a year
earlier.The former Comcast sales supervisor and movie memorabilia collector called the escape room his true calling
He first learned about them at his son's birthday
Two and a half months later, the couple bit the bullet - no pun intended
In October 2016, they opened their first room: the Kill Room, blood-spattered and designed to look like a serial killer's basement
hideout.NW Escape Experience has three themed rooms - a serial killer adventure, where players have been abducted; the comedic Hangover
Hotel; and the FBI Investigation, based on the skyjacking of flight No
305 in 1971, a true story
In all scenarios, players are trapped for 60 minutes
The goal is to escape by successfully completing a series of riddles."If you don't know what you're getting into, stepping into that room is
actually pretty scary," said Rob Bertrand, referring to the Kill Room
The room features an authentic steel autopsy table and a dead body in the center
There's also a work bench for the murderer's tools and a desk for crime-planning."I was expecting the worst," Tamara Bertrand, 41, recalled
pulling into the strip mall complex on July 8
Four police cruisers lined the curb and she expected the front glass windows would be shattered and the electronics stolen
"I figured it would cost us a lot of money and a lot of heartache," she told The Post.Chuckling, Clark County Deputy Sheriff Rob Ternus
approached the couple and pointed at one of the cop cars
Rob Bertrand remembered a man, later identified as Rye Wardlaw, 40, with cropped hair and a slightly unkempt goatee sitting in the back
seat, rambling incoherently
Ternus said the man broke into the business, got scared and called 911 on himself.Wardlaw unsuccessfully attempted to enter through the back
door using a metal pipe, Tamara Bertrand said the police told her
Then he allegedly busted a hole through a bathroom wall, climbed into an electrical closet and toppled over a set of lockers.Based on an
audio recording taken from inside the business, authorities believed Wardlaw snatched a nonworking phone, a television remote, and a can of
beer from the fridge, and wandered into the creepy unlit room
At the time, Ternus said, he was also carrying a burrito.Although the Kill Room is equipped with a panic door that always remains unlocked,
it appeared Wardlaw freaked out before using it
According to the caller ID system, the burglar called 911 four times from inside NW Escape Experience.Ternus confirmed that Wardlaw was on
the premises when deputies arrived
He was taken into custody and admitted to the crime, Ternus said.Wardlaw has been charged with second-degree burglary and is next scheduled
to appear in court on July 20, according to court records
Defense attorney Therese Marie Lavallee could not be reached immediately for comment.The Bertrands quickly realized the damage to their
business, which they estimated at $1,500, wasn't terrible
Then, they both agreed, their Sunday morning was pretty jovial.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
