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A UC Berkeley student is demanding urgent security reforms after a terrifying encounter with a predator who hunted her right to her doorstep – then walked completely free while prosecutors stalled on the case.
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prosecutors → see → case
A terrifying surveillance video shows Eden Winograd racing through a locked security gate to escape a man she says was chasing her – only to watch him climb over the barrier and follow her into her apartment complex.
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him → show → complex
For Winograd, the episode has left her questioning how safe she can feel outside her own front door.
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she → leave → door
'I don’t want to be chased the second I step out of my apartment,' she told NBC Bay Area.
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she → want → Area
The spine-chilling encounter unfolded on September 15, around 8pm in Berkeley, California, as Cal junior Winograd was walking her dog near her off-campus apartment.
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Winograd → chill → apartment
Winograd told police a man approached her and began making strange gestures before he suddenly sprinted toward her, prompting her to recoil and hurry back home.
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he → tell → her
Winograd ran to her apartment building, buzzed herself through the security gate and pulled it shut behind her.
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Winograd → run → her
But that didn't stop the predator lurking behind her.
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that → stop → her
She managed to get through the secured entrance and shut the gate behind her.
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She → manage → her
Then she looked back.
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she → look → ?
The harrowing surveillance footage shows the man climbing over the locked barrier moments later and entering the complex after her.
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man → show → her
Junior Eden Winograd is seen in security footage returning from walking her dog on September 15 when a man followed and chased her into her off-campus apartment
Just moments after entering her building complex, the man is seen scaling over her front gate and entering the complex
He is seen brandishing what was later understood to have been a barbeque lighter
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what → see → complex
She addressed the traumatic encounter saying, 'You guys don’t do anything until it’s too late,' adding, 'This happens too often to too many people'
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This → address → people
Winograd made a dash for the elevator, petrified that he would see which apartment she entered.
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she → make → apartment
'Those seconds in the elevator felt like hours in the moment,' she told the Los Angeles Times.
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she → feel → Times
However she eventually made it back to the apartment safely.
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she → make → apartment
The man was also seen pulling a long object from his pocket.
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man → see → pocket
Police initially considered whether it could have been a bladed weapon, but later determined it was likely a barbecue lighter.
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it → consider → ?
Winograd then called Berkeley police at around 8.04pm, but officers were unable to locate the man.
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officers → call → man
The department said officers were tied up with other high-priority calls, including a domestic-violence incident and an at-risk missing-person case.
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officers → say → risk
However, the following evening, Winograd saw him again near her apartment and called police.
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Winograd → see → police
This time, officers found him.
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officers → find → him
They identified him as 50-year-old Kenneth Kenji Stine, who was unhoused, detaining him while they spoke with him about the previous night’s incident.
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they → identify → incident
But then to the shock of Winograd, they released him shortly afterwards, abiding by California law.
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they → release → law
'About two minutes into the conversation, they took the handcuffs off, and came back to me and said, we can't do anything,' she said.
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she → take → anything
After making it over the gate, the man continues to follow her after she made her way to an elevator out of sight
Kenneth Kenji Stine, 50, who was described by police as unhoused was arrested on September 19, after Berkeley police found him and discovered an unrelated outstanding warrant, three days after officers had detained him over the alleged confrontation with Winograd and then released him, citing insufficient evidence for a stalking charge
Berkeley police said the alleged trespassing was a misdemeanor, and officers generally cannot make a warrantless arrest for a misdemeanor they did not personally witness.
Because the alleged trespassing had occurred the previous night, officers said they could not arrest Stine based solely on that offense.
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they → make → offense
Instead, they forwarded the case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for review.
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they → forward → review
What made the situation even more troubling for Winograd was that officers had now identified the man, and public records show he had a significant criminal history.
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he → make → history
According to court records and local reporting, Stine had been arrested on the UC Berkeley campus in June over an alleged restraining-order violation involving a university employee.
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Stine → accord → employee
However, days later, on September 19, he was arrested in connection with an alleged fire at a Menlo Park coffee shop and subsequently faced a felony arson charge in San Mateo County.
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he → arrest → County
Reporting also found that he had a prior felony arson conviction in Contra Costa County, along with convictions for vandalism, battery and violating probation.
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he → find → probation
Stine also has a bizarre online footprint.
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Stine → have → footprint
He has previously taken to Facebook about 'hearing voices in my head continuously,' which he attributed in 2021 to what he claimed was a secret DARPA program capable of reading and transmitting people’s thoughts.
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he → take → thoughts
Yet none of that allowed Berkeley officers to simply arrest him for the September 15 misdemeanor.
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officers → allow → misdemeanor
The legal restriction applied to the specific offense they were investigating: officers had not witnessed the alleged trespassing themselves.
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officers → apply → trespassing
Berkeley police located Stine again Tuesday after they discovered the outstanding warrant and booked him into jail.
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they → locate → jail
However, he is not currently jailed on new stalking or trespassing charges connected to Winograd and will remain held on the outstanding warrant while the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office decides whether to add charges stemming from the apartment incident
The case changed several days later when a separate felony warrant was entered for Stine in Contra Costa County for an alleged violation of post-release community supervision.
Berkeley officers subsequently located him on Tuesday and arrested him on that warrant.
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officers → jail → warrant
He was booked into Santa Rita Jail, where he is now being held without bail because of the felony warrant.
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he → book → warrant
However, he is not currently jailed on new stalking or trespassing charges connected to Winograd but will remain held on the outstanding warrant while the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office decides whether to add charges stemming from the apartment incident
Winograd said she was shocked by the outcome.
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she → jail → outcome
Speaking out on social media, she hopes her experience will spark broader discussions about public safety and legal protections for residents.
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experience → speak → residents
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
