New York Woman Does A Wild Thing After Finding A Stranger On Her Sofa

Katherine Johnstone was taken aback when she stumbled upon an unfamiliar man fast asleep on her sofa after returning home from a late night out.

Highland Falls, New York

Katherine, a resident of Highland Falls, New York, recounted how she first met this stranger who wandered into her home and fell asleep on her couch.

In 2016, Katherine Johnstone returned home after a night out and requested her sister to leave the front door unlocked. However, upon entering her living room, she discovered a man fast asleep on the couch.

Despite her exhaustion from the night's partying, Katherine tried to identify the stranger using her phone's flashlight, but to no avail. Fearful of their safety, Katherine and her sister quickly fled their house and called the police.

Within minutes, officers arrived and escorted the man out of their home, much to the sisters' relief. While checking for any missing or damaged items, the sisters found nothing alarming but still decided to press charges for safety's sake.

Now at 29, Katherine still recalls that shocking and scary night. After being charged with second-degree trespassing, Michael Johnstone's mugshot was printed in the local newspaper.

The Two Reunite

Katherine later discovered that she and Michael had mutual friends and decided to drop the charges.

"One of my friends said they knew him, and then other people started to tell me that they were friends with him and he was a good guy and asked us to drop the charges against him... After this, I called the county court and spoke to the prosecutor, and they had the charges dropped, but he still had to do 50 hours of community service."

The man, Johnstone, later came to her home to apologize with a letter and flowers, and they eventually became friends on social media.

"He wrote a letter to my family and brought us flowers and really wanted to show that he had made an honest mistake and this wasn't who he was," said Katherine.

Despite being in relationships with other people, they started dating a year later after Johnstone invited Katherine to a Fourth of July party. They got engaged in Central Park on December 30, 2020, got married on May 14, 2022, and now have a child together.

While Johnstone was initially scared by the situation, he was grateful for the apology meeting with Katherine's family, which he called a "wild icebreaker" since it was his first time meeting them.

"It's a beautiful story and silly because it's so unique. I wouldn't change a thing, and I think it makes our love even stronger... My husband is a great man, and I'm very lucky to have him. We're very lucky to have each other."

-Katherine

The Husband's Side Of The Story

"I heard walkie-talkies over me before waking up, and I quickly realized this wasn't a good situation."

"Being woken by police and being unsure of where you are is never a good sign. I had gone out with my co-workers, and I don't usually drink like I did that night."

"I'd reached out to one of my co-workers to sleep in his house, which was odd because his house wasn't far from mine."

"What I think happened was I thought I was going to his house, but the reality is I ended up at Katherine's and fell asleep on her sofa."

"This is the only time I have ever been arrested. At the time, I was in a mass paranoid state and didn't want it to affect my job."

"A lot of people know the story, and we're married with a kid now, so it's now looked at without any negative connotations, but at the time it could have been."

"I met with her whole family and apologized and gave them a handwritten note and flowers... I think they appreciated the apology. Her dad said it could have happened to anyone. They just wanted to make sure I was sincere about it... This was the first time I met her parents, so it was a pretty wild icebreaker."

After Their Wedding

"Our wedding was a great day. A lot of the people that came had been there from the start of our story - it was a full-circle moment... As a life partner, Katherine always brings out the best in me, and she's a great mom."

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