A spike in crime, including a recent home invasion that turned deadly, has forced Del Cerro residents to come together to discuss making their neighborhood safer.
Longtime Del Cerro resident Holly told 10News crime has been an issue for at least three years.
She said the night of terror for her neighbors just doors down was the tipping point in a neighborhood coming under siege by transients and crime.
"To die like that, to have somebody take advantage of you in your own home, we're just saddened and sickened by it," she said.
Eduardo Torres, 20, is facing charges including rape, torture and murder -- and possibly the death penalty -- after police said he broke into a home on June 13 and held two women hostage at knifepoint, raping one and stabbing both.
Ut Nguyen, 74, did not survive the attack.
Just weeks earlier, Holly said she was frightened by a man peering into her back window.
"He was standing here, looking in my door; I mean, to me, just tells you the level of thinking," Holly said.
She believes it's all connected to people coming in and out of the canyons in the area. The neighborhood called an emergency meeting Thursday evening to talk about the escalating crime and violence.
"I don't believe that guy would be in this area if it wasn't like people coming and partying here; I just don't feel the level of safety I used to feel here," said Holly.
