# Scumbag ransacks home of family killed in car crash **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660 "2009-12-02T02:48:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/21 "2009-12-02T07:36:32Z")
> [@](#): > > In Detroit a lot of people don’t put obits in the paper because the rumor is crooks will loot the homes on the day of the funeral. They know where everyone will be and when. Unfortunately this happens everywhere. Criminals read the newspaper to find opportunities to break into houses they know will be empty. The homes of people at funerals or weddings are frequent burglary targets. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/22 "2009-12-02T15:37:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Unfortunately this happens everywhere. Criminals read the newspaper to find opportunities to break into houses they know will be empty. The homes of people at funerals or weddings are frequent burglary targets. Absolutely. One of the ‘services’ my church does when there is a wedding or funeral held there is provide someone to house sit. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/23 "2009-12-02T16:50:39Z")
In the old days they used to print people’s addresses in the obituaries, this was an open invitation to crime. As for low acts, I recall after my mum died, I would get calls from people I didn’t know, and they’d say “Oh I just read your mother died.” Of course I thought it was from someone I didn’t know Then they’d say “I’m glad she died, now I’m gonna kill you.” Of course this was back in 1980, but it shows you how bored people get. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/24 "2009-12-02T17:50:11Z")
Remember _Paper Moon_, where Ryan O’Neal made a living conning newly bereaved widows. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/25 "2009-12-02T18:16:57Z")
Culprits apprehended: [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL&tsp=1](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL&tsp=1) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/26 "2009-12-02T22:30:49Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Culprits apprehended: > > [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL&tsp=1](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL&tsp=1) Gee. Now Kimmy has a reason to weep. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/27 "2009-12-02T22:42:26Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Absolutely. One of the ‘services’ my church does when there is a wedding or funeral held there is provide someone to house sit. That is really smart and I’m going to keep it in mind. It was a long while back, but this sort of thing happened in a friend’s small town. Guy shot his wife and kids. One teenage child survived but was (obviously) not allowed back to the house. Thieves broke in, stole everything of value (and plenty of things with little to no monetary value) and vandalized the rest. They even turned on all the taps so the place got flooded, including the family room where the photo albums were kept. A special place in Hell. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/28 "2009-12-03T00:14:54Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > …As for low acts, I recall after my mum died, I would get calls from people I didn’t know, and they’d say “Oh I just read your mother died.” Of course I thought it was from someone I didn’t know… A couple months after my grandmother died a telemarketer called _our house_ (not hers) and tried to sell my mom a set of childrens books and claimed that he’d just spoken to my grandmother a week ago. :mad: I’d never heard mom use the words she did before and haven’t since. :eek: She was literly screaming profanity into the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/29 "2009-12-03T01:45:28Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Wait, a Mini Cooper hit a minivan and won? I’m thinking a bullet does more severe damage than a club. Get shot in the shoulder with a bullet? Surgery, if not death. Get hit in the shoulder with a club, a big bruise, maybe a broken bone or two. I dunno, I’m rationalizing. I guess at such a speed any vehicle could be deadly. I can’t even think of a word for the despicable disgust I feel for that thief. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/30 "2009-12-03T02:06:16Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Culprits apprehended: > > [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL&tsp=1](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/02/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL&tsp=1) Good! ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/31 "2009-12-03T06:52:21Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > I’m thinking a bullet does more severe damage than a club. Get shot in the shoulder with a bullet? Surgery, if not death. Get hit in the shoulder with a club, a big bruise, maybe a broken bone or two. > > I dunno, I’m rationalizing. I guess at such a speed any vehicle could be deadly. > > I can’t even think of a word for the despicable disgust I feel for that thief. Wow. For your comparison to make any sense at all, the club head would have to be traveling at the same speed as the bullet. I don’t think there would be a shoulder bone left unbroken after that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/32 "2009-12-03T14:26:37Z")
As to the accident, maybe the Mini Cooper casued the family wagon to veer off the road & down a ditch or ravine. Sonoma isn’t Kansas, there’s plenty of hills & curves. There are a lot of ways for the family wagon to collide with solid objects; all the mini has to do is cause the van to becom out of control. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/33 "2009-12-03T14:33:59Z")
Before we get too far up the RO pole here, I’m going to ask a question. Had the family gone to the movies & had the same break in, then come home safely to discover the crime, would that have been a \*better \*burglary? Really? Think about that before you answer. Burglaries suck. Everyone agrees with that. Burglars should be shot on sight, then shot again if the first shot is not fatal. Many (certainly not all) people agree with this. I do. But once we assume a particular burglary is going to happen/did happen, is it really better for all the victims to be alive rather than already dead from an unrelated cause? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/34 "2009-12-03T15:28:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Before we get too far up the RO pole here, I’m going to ask a question. > > Had the family gone to the movies & had the same break in, then come home safely to discover the crime, would that have been a \*better \*burglary? Really? Think about that before you answer. From the second article linked > [@](#): > > After John and Susan Maloney and their two young children died in a crash on Highway 37, news crews flocked to their street in Sonoma. A memorial of flowers sprung up on their doorstep, and pictures of their three-bedroom home were featured on TV. > > Among those who followed the story, authorities believe, were a Redwood City man with a history of grand theft and his girlfriend. > > Smelling opportunity, the couple drove 70 miles to Sonoma, broke into the dead family’s empty house, ransacked it of jewelry, electronics and financial records and drove off in the Maloneys’ 2006 Nissan 350Z, police said Wednesday. The point is that these people knew that the family was dead and went and stole from the house. Yes, I think that’s lower than knowing that people are at the movies and stealing from them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/35 "2009-12-03T15:33:51Z")
How so? It’s a victimless crime at that point. Obviously, it’s still burglary, still a crime, but how can it possibly be worse than stealing from people who are actually alive and capable of being harmed by it? ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/36 "2009-12-03T15:37:35Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Wait, a Mini Cooper hit a minivan and won? Not necessarily, it may have just scored some major points in its defeat. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/37 "2009-12-03T15:46:21Z")
The other RO-worthy aspect of this story: the Mini Cooper was driven by a 19 year who had a previous DUI-related accident in 2007. Witnesses report that he had been drinking in a bar earlier that evening. What a perfect storm of bad luck for the family. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/38 "2009-12-03T16:04:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > How so? It’s a victimless crime at that point. Obviously, it’s still burglary, still a crime, but how can it possibly be worse than stealing from people who are actually alive and capable of being harmed by it? The article says: > [@](#): > > The family’s relatives … are “reeling from the loss of their loved ones and trying to cope with the tragedy associated with the accident. This leaves such a taste of vulnerability to them.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/39 "2009-12-03T16:13:23Z")
That’s a reach. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660/40 "2009-12-03T16:52:35Z")
I, for one, would much rather be robbed dead than alive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scumbag-ransacks-home-of-family-killed-in-car-crash/519660.md?page=3)