HENDERSON, Nev. -- The heat may have played a role in the sexual assault of a Henderson woman.

Police said a 64-year-old woman was sleeping in her apartment near West Warm Springs Road and North Green Valley Parkway, when a man got in through a sliding glass door on the woman's third-floor balcony, beat her and sexually assaulted her.

Police said they believe she left the door unlocked.

Crimes like this become more common as the temperature rises. Sometimes homeowners may be less likely to close up and lock windows and doors.

But there are options to keep homes safe this summer.

Residents might think they are safe up on a top floor, but that doesn't mean someone won't try to get inside.

“The woman was on the third floor. He made entry off of the patio and went through the unlocked sliding glass door,” said Todd Rasmussen of the Henderson Police Department. “It looks like he somehow scaled the walls to get inside the apartment."

"Sliding doors are pretty easy to break into. They're really easy to pop off the hinges," said Tracy Stumbaugh, of Home Depot.

There are locks for the lip of windows, so they can be cracked open at night.

“They're so easy, inexpensive, and you can use them everywhere," Stumbaugh said.

There are motion detectors and an alarm that sounds when a door opens and even a bar to barricade yourself from intruders.

“You wedge it under the door, so the door knob is right here," Stumbaugh said.

Experts said no devices are fool proof. Lock everything and crank up the air conditioning if possible. The more obstacles for a criminal to get through, the more likely they are to move on to someone else.

Police said they believe this was a random attack.