Actress Melora Rivera, then 29, recounted the terrifying experience of a home invasion in September 2014, when a homeless man broke into her Venice, California, residence and pursued her onto the roof. The incident was captured in a photograph that gained national attention.

Rivera was asleep when Christian Hicks, the intruder, first attempted to enter her home, jiggling the doorknob. Upon hearing the noise, Rivera went to her window and saw Hicks walking away, talking to himself. Believing the threat had passed, she returned to bed.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, Hicks returned and began ramming the front door with his shoulder. Rivera, watching from her loft bedroom, saw the door buckle. She called 911 as a large section of the door broke inward and Hicks's hand reached inside to unlock it. Deciding to escape, Rivera crawled through a window in her bedroom, reaching the roof just as Hicks entered the house. Hicks then climbed out the window and onto the roof with Rivera.

Rivera described the situation as feeling like a horror movie, with her instincts telling her to escape. As she navigated the roof, Hicks emerged from the window and joined her on the rooftop. A passer-by noticed the commotion and alerted a police officer, while Rivera remained on the phone with 911. The entire incident lasted about 30 minutes.

Rivera says the whole incident lasted up to 30 minutes, and she managed to take some photos as it all unfolded

Police arrived and managed to coax Hicks down from the roof, with firefighters providing Rivera with a ladder to climb to safety. Rivera noted the surreal experience of being on the roof with police pointing guns at her and a helicopter overhead, while onlookers watched from the sidewalk.

The intruder, identified as Christian Hicks, had a lengthy rap sheet, but received a plea deal and was sentenced to just three years behind bars for the incident

Hicks, who had a significant criminal record, received a plea deal for the 2014 home invasion and was sentenced to three years in prison. After his release, court records indicate he was arrested in 2018 on charges of burglary and forcible touch, for which he again received a plea deal and served less than a year.

In 2021, Hicks was arrested on charges including rape, sodomy, sexual penetration with force, and kidnapping. Following a lengthy court process, he was sentenced in 2023 to 37 years in prison for these offenses, with eligibility for parole in September 2043.

Hicks is serving a 37 year prison sentence for rape, sodomy, sexual penetration with force and kidnapping charges from a 2021 incident