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Sounds Of Footsteps Helped Bible Study Pair Escape From Home

DENVER (CBS4) - Two women who were in the middle of a Bible study were forced to make a desperate escape from a Denver home on Wednesday after an auto theft suspect who was on the run barged in.

The two women -- Breanna Huffman and Rhonda Denison -- were inside Huffman's home on Lipan Street in the early afternoon and unaware that police were engaged in a suspect search in the area.

"I kind of heard someone messing with my door so I went to deadbolt it just to make sure no one could get in," Huffman said.

They women brushed it off, but a minute later there was a loud banging noise at their window and they took cover.

"We quickly got on the ground and I was like 'We have to get into the bathroom, we have to get in the bathroom.' And then we heard his footsteps in the house," Huffman said.

The two women knew they couldn't hide in the bathroom for long and quickly worked out a plan to get out.

"We were talking in fragmented sentences. It was like 'Window. Door. Stairs.' to each other whispering," Denison told CBS4.

They waited until the sound of those footsteps moved upstairs and then made a break for the door.

"We knew he was upstairs and while he was upstairs that was the best chance that he wasn't going to see us," Huffman said. "He was definitely going to hear us but he wasn't going to be able to get to us in time to do anything to us."

LIPAN STANDOFF  5 SOT_.transfer
The suspect taken into custody (credit: CBS)

Once outside, the women were immediately greeted by police.

A SWAT team wound up negotiating with the suspect for about three hours while he was barricaded inside Huffman's home. The situation ended peacefully with the arrest of the suspect, whose name hasn't been released.

After having time to reflect the two women credit their faith for keeping them safe.

"It just feels like it was something much bigger than us that got us out. It was very, very scary," Denison said.

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