A Columbia woman was trapped inside her attic while intruders broke into her home last week.

Amy Gilbert was home alone last Thursday. She was in her attic getting plastic Easter eggs when she heard loud noises.

“I heard a lot of banging downstairs,” Gilbert said. “My husband had just gone to work, I thought it was him.”

When she started smelling cigarette smoke and heard glass breaking, Gilbert realized it wasn’t her husband.

“I slowly went back up the stairs in my attic,” she said. “As I was starting to close the attic door, I heard a thick male voice say, ‘Let’s grab anything and go.'”

Gilbert dialed 911 and stayed on the phone with a dispatcher while the intruders rummaged through the Richmond Drive home looking for anything of value.

“I had no idea what to do,” Gilbert said. “I piled suitcases on top of me because I figured if they did come up the stairs and they looked in the attic, they wouldn’t see me and they would see it was a bunch of storage stuff.”

The burglars ended up taking several small items, cash and a vehicle from the home. They fled the scene before police arrived.

“It was a very scary experience,” Gilbert said.

Columbia police have assigned a team of investigators to the case.

“These are senseless crimes,” said Lt. Joey Gideon with Columbia police. “This can be a very dangerous situation. When you are in someone else’s home, you don’t know when a confrontation may occur.”

Gilbert said she is thankful the situation ended the way it did.

“It could have gone a very different way,” she said. “My son could have been home with me. My husband could have been home. It could have gone a completely different way. I feel very lucky.”

Gilbert said she feels afraid when she’s home alone, but she’s not going to let the break-in stop her from living a normal life.

“I’m not going to let this define me,” she said. “I’m not going to let it make me weak. I know I did everything I was supposed to do the right way.”

Police were able to lift fingerprints from inside the house. The evidence has been sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to be analyzed.