STARKE, Fla. -- "I came in and saw he was in the kitchen and he was going through the cabinets," recalls Ashleigh Elam, 19.
When Elam and her roommate came home Wednesday night they found a masked man inside trying to steal some of their stuff - a jar of change, a bow and arrow.
But the burglar picked the wrong home to mess with.
"I was just really mad because he had my things," Elam said.
The Army-trained teen wasn't going down without a fight.
"I immediately looked around to see what I could hit him with," she recalls.
Within reach, was a pocketknife on top of the table near the door.
"When I flipped it open he heard me," said Elam. "He turned around, saw me, and started running toward the back door."
Without any hesitation, Ashleigh ran too - and not in the direction many in her shoes would choose.
"I chased after him and I tackled him," said Elam.
It turned into an all-out brawl on the concrete. Elam stabbed the intruder in the chest before he could wrestle the knife out of her hands and stab her in the thigh. After five stitches, Elam now has a slight limp.
The intruder was last seen running into the woods behind Elam's home. A multi-county manhunt has been underway ever since.
"We do have a BOLO out through the Southeastern US for anybody matching the description," said Capt. Brad Smith with the Bradford County Sheriff's Office.
But so far, even with the help of tracking dogs and a chopper, the masked man is still on the run.
Police have alerted hospitals in the area to be on the lookout for a man with a serious injury to the chest.
The suspect is described as a white man wearing a black ski mask, dark long-sleeve shirt and dark pants.
Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call the Bradford County Sheriff's Office at (904) 966-6161.
