Our apartment was broken into today. Craziness ensues.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My 9-yr old son went to the Cubs game this afternoon and ended up getting home from the game a little earlier than I usually do (4pm instead of 6pm). We walked into our apartment to find that we’d been broken into and robbed. Ugh. They rummaged through everything…every drawer, every closet. It looks like they only ended up taking our Wii and a bunch of DVD’s and Blu-rays. Oh, and they took Shocker Khan’s pillowcase to haul their loot out in.

While we were waiting for cops to show up someone pounded on the backdoor. Our back area is supposed to be secure but the latches on the gates don’t work well. There are stairs and porches up the back of our building and our back bedroom window opens onto the porch. Someone could easily get into the back, come up the stairs, and open the bedroom window to climb in. In fact, that’s exactly what happened.

After I called the cops and while I was walking around the apartment trying to figure out what might be missing, someone pounded on the back doom. I was scared to answer it but thought it best to. When I answered the door it was a sketchy looking guy that I’ve never seen around before. I said “Can I help you?” and he said “Is Jason here?” I said no and he said “Oh, I have the wrong place, he must be on the other side of the building…” and then he left.

The police took awhile to arrive and while still waiting, I started talking to our downstairs neighbors and they said that someone knocked on their bedroom window T
THIS morning and when they asked the guy what he wanted, he said he was looking for “Jason” also. Obviously the same guy I’d just seen at 430pm.

My theory: I think that “Jason” guy robbed our place this morning after he struck out w/ the downstairs neighbors. Sold our stuff to get high, and then came back for the Blu-Ray and more DVDs when he needed another fix. We were lucky to be here when he came back looking for “Jason”. We’re also really lucky we didn’t come home a little later to surprise him in the act. That’s scary.

After I gave a report to the police, my son and I left to go get my daughter from daycare. We were walking to where the car was parked a couple of blocks away and I saw the “Looking for Jason” guy walking on the other side of the street carrying a small duffel bag. I had just passed a cop a half block back who was chatting w/ some neighborhood people, so I ran back to him and quickly told him what was going on and told him the guy was about to get onto the El.

The cop went after him and detained him. A bunch of other cops came to help too. They turned the guy’s pockets out and found a bunch of junkie needles. Also, the guy has a warrant. He admitted to knocking on my door but said he was w/ a girl. No idea what he was talking about, he wasn’t a very good liar… He was really nervous and wouldn’t answer the cops’ questions w/ straight answers. He also wouldn’t look at my son or I in the face at all.

The duffel bag ended up not having any of our stuff in it. Just some clothes that he said belonged to some girl he was with. Still don’t know who he meant as I hadn’t seen him with any girls either time I saw him. One officer went up to the top of the El tracks to see if the girl was around, and he found a girl’s wallet laying on a ledge. The ID in the wallet matched the name of the girl that the guy said he was with. So when the cops grabbed him, she ditched her wallet and jumped on a train. Crazy.

Oh, and just for good measure - a female officer at the scene was looking in the guy’s bag and ended up getting stuck w/ a needle from a diabetes tester. That’s gotta suck for her. I hope nothing bad comes of that.

Anyway, they ended up arresting him for his outstanding warrant, and incorporated that case into mine in case they figure out if he’s the one who broke in.

After we got home, another cop came over to dust for fingerprints. He found a few good ones right away. Some on the window where the guy came in (daughter’s room), and then some on our Blu-Ray player which had been moved but not taken. HOPEFULLY those prints will match the “Jason” guy, or someone else in the system. I know we’re never going to get our stuff back, but hopefully we can keep from having another break-in anytime soon.

So that’s the fun we’ve been having tonight. We’d had such a great time at the Cubs/Cards game today. It was my son’s first Cub’s game and he had a great time. Now I’m sitting here still shaking a bit from everything. My stomach is all tied up in knots and I’m scared silly that someone’s going to break in again. Also not thrilled that the guy knows who I am and where I live.

Anyone else have some fun break-in stories to share?

2

Wow, sorry to hear you went through that. That sounds horrifying.

3

Sorry to hear about this. Probably about now you have that “violated” feeling because someone you didn’t know was in your space and wreaked havoc in it. Try to relax and forget about this and don’t take it personally – the guy was only after stuff, and not after you. Likely he didn’t know you and it’s not personal. Stuff can be replaced, and if you have tenant’s insurance, it’s usually not that big a deal. Relax.

4

Our house got broken into when I was at home. That was a bit scary- they were in the room next to where I was on the computer. I heard a noise and by the time I walked into the room they were gone. With about $7,000 of jewelery.

However, your story easily tops that :slight_smile:

5

It’s really hard to shake the feeling that it’ll happen again. It gets better, but you don’t forget about it.

We had 2 guys attempt to break into our place last fall. We were VERY lucky that it was during PAX (a convention) weekend and we had guests sleeping in the living room that night. As it is, it’s sort of a funny story, but I still get a sick feeling sometimes thinking about what could have happened if it’d been almost any other weekend.

So, as we told our friends after it happened: our apartment would have been a very bad place to be that night if you’re a thief. My boyfriend and I were sleeping in the back bedroom, where I sleep next to a baseball bat (a habit picked up when I lived alone) and my boyfriend keeps his gun. One guest was on the couch near the kitchen, where our very sharp knives are. The second guest is what really makes the story amusing: D is a very buff ex-military ex-personal trainer that’s extremely loyal to friends and generally a guy you don’t want to cross. He’s also a big believer in the idea that if you break into someone else’s home you deserve what you get, up to and including death. Apparently he also travels with a knife and keeps it nearby when he sleeps.

We live on the second floor and were in the habit of keeping the patio door open at night to help keep things cool (a habit we’ve since changed). D was sleeping on the couch near the patio when he was woken up by the sound of our downstairs neighbor’s patio table being moved across the cement. He sat up and listened, then saw someone trying to climb over our railing and debated whether to chase them away or wait for an ambush opportunity. Choosing the path of less paperwork (joking… maybe) he hopped over the couch and started yelling at the first guy, who then fell screaming onto the table below. D saw him and another guy running away.

The first thing my boyfriend and I knew about anything happening was when D came back to wake us up afterward. We didn’t hear any of it and I’m thankful still that our friends were in our living room that night, and that the assholes outside didn’t make it in. I’m pretty sure someone would have died if they hadn’t run away.

6

I do.
Our house was robbed a couple of times while I was growing up, but that is not the story I am here to tell.
After I was grown up, moved out, and my mother had died, my father heard a noise in what used to be my bedroom.
He walked down the hall, opened the door, flipped on the light, and saw the bad guy climbing in through the window.
Ever quick on his feet, my father said “Wait right there, let me go get my gun.” With that he turned and left the room.
When he returned, the bad guy had left. I wonder why.
FTR my father did not own a gun.
:smiley:
I miss my dad.

7

I’m sorry, That is a horrible feeling. Look into an alarm system. My son got broken into twice in two weeks. They came back for his huge tv. He got a wireless alarm system from Frontpoint online and you can install it in ten minutes and it’s all cellular. It was 99 dollars and as he thinks it’s a neighbor he doesn’t want to replace everything only to get it stolen again. They also give you a discount on your homeowners. You can also have it send an alarm to the police station or just use it stand alone. Good Luck.

8

I was broken into once. The robber kicked the door in while I was away. All that was gone was my VCR. (This was a while ago.)

The police officer who came said not to get another one for a while, as the robber might try to come back and get the replacement. Sure enough, six days later the same thing happened.

The place was tossed but I didn’t have anything they (it was presumbably one person) could carry. TV would have been too conspicuous.

So the robber got in my fridge and cooked themself breakfast. Swear to God this is true. Bacon and eggs, with grease all over the place. And my ordinary plates weren’t good enough, they got in the back of my cupboard and hauled out the one good china breadplate I owned, and ate off of that. My poor cat was so terrified he wouldn’t come out when I called for him, and I thought sure he’d been killed. But finally he crept out of hiding. That latter is what really pissed me off.

9

Discovering that we were robbed when comming back from my step fathers funeral was a real low blow. They even fed our dog so he wouldn’t attack them.

Its a violating feeling.

10

It’s just a terrible feeling when you realize someone has been in your space. As someone else mentioned previously, it is important to remember that it is not personal and that all they got was “stuff”. I’m glad you and your son are OK.

When I was about 20 I was living by myself in a lower level suite… windows level with the ground. The building next to mine had been boarded up… they were supposed to tear it down and put in new condos, but the developer went belly up and the building had been empty for months. Everyone in the neighborhood knew that homeless people were crashing there, but there had been very little trouble from them and I never felt like it was a dangerous situation.

I was in a pretty serious depression and my place was a disaster due to my (past) hoarding tendancies and my inability to get motivated to do anything. My bed was so piled with clothes and other stuff that I usually slept in the living room. One morning I woke and went into the bedroom to get ready for work. It took several seconds to realize something wasn’t quite right. I then noticed that the curtains and mini-blinds on the bedroom window were askew… on closer inspection the window had been jimmied and was wide open. Someone had come in through the window in the night, while I was asleep in the next room. Due in part to the depression I was in and the medication I was taking, I never heard a thing.

The culprit took some cash I had lying on the bureau and some moderately priced jewelry. I really wonder if he came any further into the apartment, realized there was someone there and just decided to leave instead of risking getting caught. I also wonder if he didn’t just look around and realize that someone a bit unstable was living there (due to the state of the apartment), and thought the cash and jewelry were good enough rather than going in any further. I didn’t call the police because I didn’t feel like I’d been harmed and I was too ashamed to have them come into my place and see its condition. I put hockey sticks in all the windows and just lived with my fear until I moved.

11

No stories of my own, but here is a story that might cheer you up:

12

Now this would piss me right the fuck off. Not only did this asshole steal something from you, but he broke back in, ate your food so as to say “haha, I got back in and I’m going to eat your food to thumb my nose at you,” AND he used your good plate. What a dickweed. I hope he got his ass kicked sometime shortly thereafter.

13

Any more news on this?

14

He fought the law(yer) and the law(yer) won.

15

In very early 2008, I let a young guy I worked with rent a room because he was having a tough time and the extra cash came in handy for me. It turned out to be a VERY bad idea- he was doing drugs and started bringing hisn girlfriend over 3 days out of the week, and I was feeding her with no extra money kicked in. I asked him to leave after a couple months.

In July of that year, I was working at a different place. My male Gordon Setter was off at a do show with his handler and only my femal Gordon (VERY friendly) & a Papillon were loose in the house.

My back yard is privacy fenced and securely locked, so I used to leave my back door unlocked. My ex-roommate knew this. I came home from work to find the back storm door standing wide open. My first thought was that the wind had caught it. Then I walked thru my bedroom. The curtains were caught in the window, several figurines had been knocked off the shelf next to the window, and everything knocked off the bookcase under the window. The jewelry box on my dresser was open, and my deceased mother’s diamond cocktail ring was gone.

The way I pieced it together, he needed drug money, knew I left the back door unlocked, knew my dogs, and knew what time I normally got off work. I got off early that day to go pick up my male dog (Who, had he been home, I don’t think would have allowed the intruder, even if he DID know him) and I think I surprised him. I am pretty sure he was actually IN my bedroom (back of the house) when I came in the front and he went hastily out the window. I think his original plan, and the reason the back door was open, is he was planning on cleaning out my electronics.

I guess I was lucky. He could have hurt my dogs, or even me if he was high at the time. But I felt so violated, and HATED staying in the house alone for a long time after that. I do not leave my door unlocked at all now.

16

No, not yet. I did find the serial # to my Wii on the original box so tomorrow morning I’m going to call in and have the information added to my police report. I called the nearby Gamestop to see if anyone has tried to unload a Wii the last couple of days and they said no, but that if any did come in they’d hold it aside for a couple of days before reselling to give me or the police a chance to get it back.

Also checked w/ a nearby pawn shop and they weren’t helpful at all. Real jerks, actually… Wouldn’t even talk to us. They had a lot of Wii’s for sale but I don’t think I’ll know if mine is there or not until the cops get the serial # and can look at their records.

17

Someone TRIED to pry open my front door. Fortunately, my apartment complex’s doors have metal frames. I just shudder to think what might’ve happened.

18

Me this morning:

“Hey, have you seen my iPod, I’m pretty sure I left it over here on Fri… ohhhhh shit.”

19

Back about 1986, my wife and I had a small house in Michigan. She came home from work a few minutes before I did, and noticed that the microwave was gone. And the TV. And a little computer, her jewelry box, some binoculars, and other stuff. I noticed that my new pair of tennis shoes were missing, and the toilet was full of toilet paper with excrement on it. WTF???

We found a broken basement window, and the cat’s litter box underneath it was dumped all over the basement floor. We figured out that the thief kicked in the window, shinnied in, and landed squarely in the cat’s litter box. He cleaned off his shoes, and took mine as replacements.

20

They took your pillow cases?

That’s just wrong.