Sickening truth behind home intruder photo as homeless man chased actress onto roof in real life ‘horror movie plot’

IT’S every woman’s worst nightmare. Photos of actress Melora Rivera, then 29, crouching half-naked on her roof, while being followed by the homeless man who had broken into her home, went viral in September 2014. Melora Rivera hid on a roof from the man who broke into her home, but he followed her out there in a terrifying scene Credit: venice311/twitter Melora pictured at a work event two years after her ordeal, with Erika Johnson, left Credit: Getty She had moved into the property in Venice, LA, just three weeks earlier. The image, showing Christian Hicks looming over the fleeing Melora, was snapped by a blogger as Melora waited to be rescued by police. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! She told the Daily Mail at the time: “I felt like I was becoming the plot to a horror movie; it was terrifying, all my instincts told me I had to get out of there. “This guy had kicked my front door in, chased me up to my bedroom and followed me out the window on to the roof; all I could do was hide. Hicks had a string of other criminal activities both before and after his arrest in 2014 Credit: venice311/twitter Firefighters helped bring the terrified actress down from the roof Credit: Venice311 “If the police hadn’t got there when they did, who knows what could have happened. I thought I might have to jump off the roof.” Hicks, now 41, was arrested and charged. He already had a string of previous convictions including domestic violence and carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records seen by the LA Times. But because he struck a plea deal, he served just three years in jail for Melora’s ordeal. Upon his release, Hicks continued his criminal activities. In 2018, he was arrested and charged with burglary and forcible touch. He took another plea deal, and was sentenced to less than a year in jail. Most read in The Sun Then in 2021, he was arrested on rape, sodomy, sexual penetration with force and kidnapping charges. He was finally jailed for 37 years in 2023, although records show he will be eligible for parole in September 2043. Melora, a TV writer and producer who worked on Whitney Houston’s 2012 film Sparkle, was fast asleep in her loft bedroom when she woke to Hicks knocking and jiggling her front door knob at 8.15am. When she looked out the window, she saw a man walking away from her home and talking to himself. Melora decided not to confront him, as she didn’t want to advertise the fact she was a woman living alone. She had recently moved to the area from New York for a writing job. She got back into bed, but 15 minutes later Hicks returned with more conviction – ramming at the front door with his shoulder. “I looked down from my bedroom and could see the door buckling with every charge,” Melora added to the Mail. “It seemed relentless; this guy was going to carry on until he got in, I was scared. I called 911 and told them someone was trying to break in my house. “I was giving them my address when a big chunk of my door broke inwards, and I saw the guy’s hand coming inside to unlock it.” Melora knew she had to run, kicking out her window and crawling through it. She had no time to dress, and was wearing only a flannel shirt with no trousers at the time. But Hicks followed her, leading to the now infamous image. Luckily a passer-by had witnessed the break-in and flagged down a passing police car. Firefighters also rushed to the scene, giving Melora a ladder to climb to safety, before police coaxed Hicks down from the roof. Melora recalls seeing six police men with guns, a helicopter overhead and people crowding the pavement to watch it all unfold. The whole thing lasted 30 minutes. She said: “It was a weird sensation to feel like your life is in jeopardy and people are watching it.” Comment now