Memphis woman wakes up to intruder in her bed: "What if her little girl was in the room?!"

MEMPHIS -- It was an unnerving Monday morning, April 11th for a Memphis woman who woke up to a complete stranger inappropriately touching her in bed.

On Monday, police started searching for the suspect who broke into her apartment.

"My daughter, she's in a very dramatic state right now," Beverly Loverson said.

Frustrated and frightened, Loverson told WREG about her daughter's disturbing morning. This, as police combed the area surrounding the Cypress Gardens Apartments.

Around 7:45 a.m., the 26-year-old victim said she woke up to a stranger in her bed.

"Groping her and fondling her, and she woke up and tried to strike him with a stick," Loverson said.

The victim said the suspect ran into the bathroom and then escaped out her daughter's bedroom window -- the same window he used to break into the apartment.

"What if her little girl was in the room?! No telling what he would've done to her five-year-old little girl," Loverson said.

Tenants who live at the complex told WREG there's too much unprotected access to the back of the building. Walking along the fence line, a WREG crew found several holes that someone could easily crawl through.

Then there's the issue of the exposed windows, which neighbors said this suspect took advantage of.

"I'm scared! I'm a female. I've got kids. I stay at home by myself," Lakeviette Smith, a neighbor said.  "They need to fix the gates, cut the trees down, fix the gates...put some lighting back there."

While Loverson and her family are shaken, she had a sharp, stern message for the suspect.

"Whoever you are, you're gonna get caught!" Loversons aid.

The suspect description is vague.

WREG reached out to police to see if this case could be connected to serial rapes reported across Memphis back in January, but they didn't immediately hear back on that.