BRUNSWICK, Ohio — For weeks, Timothy Nielsen wandered a Brunswick neighborhood, lived in nearby woods and knocked on doors, according to the Brunswick Police Department.
Neighbors thought he was homeless. “He seems lost,” said one 911 caller.
But it turns out police said his reason for being in the neighborhood was more sinister. Police said that five years ago, Nielsen saw a then 8-year-old girl on YouTube making arts and crafts. A family spokesperson said when he started making inappropriate comments the girl’s parents shut the page down.
A family representative told News 5 that the page was constantly monitored by her parents and when the girl’s mother saw the comments, “she shut down everything,” said the representative.
The spokesperson said the family called authorities when the comments first appeared.
“He was too mentally unstable to take care of himself let alone travel to Ohio. Really there is no risk because he is so far away,” explained the spokesperson.
The family thought it was over, but the nightmare was just beginning. Police said Nielsen had been cyberstalking the girl since 2017.
According to police, Nielsen figured out the exact neighborhood where the girl lives and traveled from Gresham, Oregon to Brunswick Ohio in hopes of finding the girl.
Several neighbors called the police to report a homeless man. Police video shows Nielsen telling the responding officer. “I’m seriously trying to get a date with a girl on the internet,” he told a police officer.
The family said the 43-year-old didn’t realize but he was at the family’s doorstep, and a doorbell camera captured him.
The family also thought he was a homeless man until the girl recognized his voice on the doorbell camera. “Our hearts sank," said the family representative.
The doorbell camera captured a police officer asking why Nielsen is looking for a 12-year-old, Nielsen can be heard saying, “I’m looking for a 6-year-old.”
The family is frightened, worried, and concerned for their safety, but they are sharing their experience to warn other parents that this could happen to anyone because they had safeguards in place to protect the child.
“This was not a relationship, there was no back and forth communication, there was never a connection between the two of them. He locked onto her and despite the protections before and after this happened,” the spokesperson explained.
Nielsen is in Medina County Jail on menacing by stalking and importuning. The family fears the charges are not tough enough. They have an emergency protection order in place. Now, they are calling on the FBI to get involved. We have reached out to the FBI for comment.
