Bruce Wilkerson, the current mayor of Bowling Green, recently received a shock.
Discovered a stranger hiding in his cellar
Wilkerson was at home when he began hearing strange noises. According to NBC, the house was being renovated. At first, when Wilkerson went to investigate, he didn't find anything unusual.
But he later started hearing noises again. When he went to look again, he found blood on the cellar door.
He also found a bag with women's clothes and other items inside of it. Wilkerson then locked the cellar door.
Insider reports that electricity went out at the house, drawing Wilkerson outside yet again. And this time, he found a person—a woman who had apparently taken up refuge in the cellar's crawl space.
The unidentified woman reportedly told Wilkerson she was hiding from somebody. She also asked that he not call the police, but he decided to do so anyway. Shortly after, she ran away, leaving her bag behind.
Efforts to find out the woman's identity have been unsuccessful. The woman apparently didn't steal anything from the house.
Wilkerson says he's not pressing charges against her. Rather, he's worried about her wellbeing. He even left her bag outside so she could get it back. But she hadn't returned.
Wilkerson has been the mayor since 2011
Bruce Wilkerson is quite familiar with the Bowling Green Police Department, as it turns out. He was an officer with the department for 20 years. After retiring from the department, he became the chief financial officer of Sheldon Enterprises.
Wilkerson was first elected to political office in 2006 as a Bowling Green city commissioner. He was re-elected in 2008 and again in 2010.
In 2011, a special election was triggered for the position of mayor of Bowling Green. Incumbent Mayor Elaine Walker was appointed as Kentucky's secretary of state.
Wilkerson won the special election. He defeated Joe Denning, who had temporarily taken over as mayor in Walker's stead. Wilkerson was re-elected as mayor in 2012 and 2016.
Wilkerson is running for mayor again in 2020. If he wins, term limits dictate that it would be his last term as mayor. He currently holds the record as the longest-consecutive serving mayor in Bowling Green history.
Bowling Green is located in southern Kentucky. It can claim the third-largest population of any city in the commonwealth, following behind Louisville in the top spot and Lexington in second place.
The city has a history of manufacturing. Bowling Green's General Motors Assembly Plant has produced Chevrolet's famed Corvette since the early 1980s. The city is also home to Western Kentucky University and the Bowling Green Hot Rods baseball team.