Albert Clemens Sr has had his house egged for nearly a year

A STAKE-OUT, a full police investigation and still police can’t work out who is egging an old man’s house. And it’s been happening every day for a year.

Cops can’t crack year-long egging case

THE constant attacks have ruined an old man’s home and kept his family on edge.

But it’s not arson or drive-by shootings that terrorised 85-year-old Albert Clemens Sr. It’s eggs.

The Euclid, Ohio man has been targeted by a mystery egg thrower since May 2014 and it’s got him, the police and the local council baffled.

“The accuracy is phenomenal,” Mr Clemens, Sr. said. “Because almost every time when it’s nice weather and they launch five or six of these at a time, they almost invariably hit the front door.”

He and his wife bought the green two storey home as newlyweds about 60 years ago. Though his wife has since died, Mr Clemens still lives there with his 49-year-old daughter and 51-year-old son.

The house has been smashed with eggs several times a week, sometimes several times a day, for the past year. The attacks always happen after dark and last up to 10 minutes each.

The sound of them hitting the house sometimes sounds like a gunshot. Mr Clemens and police believe the eggs are being launched from a block or two away.

The siding on the front of the Clemens’ home is destroyed, splattered with dried egg residue that stripped off the paint. Other than a few rogue eggs that hit nearby homes, no other neighbours have been targeted.

“Somebody is deeply, deeply angry at somebody in that household for some reason,” Euclid police officer Lt. Mitch Houser told Cleveland.com.

Police have been taking the attacks seriously. Everything from undercover stake-outs, speaking to neighbours and having the eggshells tested.

The department’s entire community policing unit was dedicated to tracking down the eggers at one point. Officers respond quickly to every egging call at the home — which is close to the police station.

But there have been no leads and no suspects.

Mr Clemens had suspicions about a young man across the street who confronted him a couple years ago and asked him to stop calling police about suspicious activity in the neighbourhood. He had started calling police more often as he noticed more crime — mostly suspected drug activity.

Another neighbour Clemens suspected was ruled out when officers saw him standing outside as an attack occurred in the presence of police.

Investigators have even gone as far as installing a surveillance camera on the house and having the eggshells tested in a lab. They were traced back to a local Amish farm.

Mr Clemens says the culprits either have access to a large supply of eggs or are stealing them from businesses that throw them out when they go bad. Detectives have followed this idea, visiting local restaurants and businesses asking about missing eggs.

“The accuracy is phenomenal,” Albert Clemens Sr says of the egg throwers — who never miss.

They’ve also tried collecting fingerprints from eggshells but Mr Houser said that was impossible because when an egg breaks it releases proteins that destroy DNA.

And the involvement of the police hasn’t put off the vandals.

An officer last year was taking a report when a barrage of eggs was launched at the house. One hit him in the foot.

Mr Houser said the culprits would face charges of felony vandalism and criminal damaging. Police would continue the search until the egg thrower was found.

“We’re not going to let it go,” Houser said. “We’ll continue to put effort into it until we figure something out.”

Originally published as Albert Clemens Sr has had his house egged for nearly a year