Someone Broke into our House Today

Diana and Allison and I left this morning, like we do almost every Saturday, for an adventure.  We headed to an outdoor art/food festival type thing, but because the weather was rainy, we headed over to the aquarium.

We left around 9:30am, and returned home at 12:30pm.  As we were driving up, Diana noticed that our door was open.  I specifically remember being in the car first, and Diana and Allison coming to the car to meet me.  We figured that possibly the door just wasn't closed in the hustle to get the kiddo into the car.

I walked to the door, and didn't really consider that someone could be inside.  But I yelled "we're home!" and tried not to startle anyone, again not really thinking anyone would be inside.

I walked in, and went into our kitchen, and noticed that a couple of the drawers were open.  That was suspicious, but with a curious little girl running around, not unheard of.

I walked back to the front door, and noticed the drawer of a small decorative table was also open.  This was definitely weird.

I went back outside and told Diana that I thought someone had broken into our house.  We sort of sat there, not knowing what to do.  We saw our neighbor across the street, and told him what we thought happened.  I'm not sure exactly what happened next, but I cautiously (and perhaps stupidly) went back inside, making lots of noise and ready to bolt if necessary.  It became obvious pretty quick that the house was empty.

The police were called, and nice Officer Brett came and looked around, attempted to take some fingerprints (none found), and generally reassured us and made us feel a bit less scared.

Here's what I think happened, based on open drawers, etc.

Bad guy goes to the front door, and discovers that no one answers it.
Tries courtyard sliding glass door (screen was ajar).
Walks around the garage side of the house.  Tries side sliding glass door.
Tries back sliding glass door.
Makes it around to the other side of the house, and finds a bedroom window slightly ajar.
Pries the screen off the window (bent screen was found nearby), and enters.
Looks through bedtable drawers (perhaps for guns?)
Looks through cabinet under the TV (only old VHS tapes in there).
Does NOT go into bathroom (Diana's jewelry box untouched).
Goes down the hall into my office.
Grabs Diana's laptop bag (with computer inside).
TRIES to take my computer, but gets frustrated with how many wires there are (devices were unplugged from power strip, but nothing disconnected).  The front case of the computer was slightly ripped off the frame, like it was pulled roughly.
Takes my 20" flat panel monitor and webcam sitting on top of it.
Ignores the open closet which has other techy stuff in it.
Goes through the living room (not seeing my laptop on the sofa), and into the main room.
Rifles through kitchen drawers, and finds a LOT of crap we stuff in there.
Disconnects and takes my PS3.
Takes my Rock Band 2 Guitar.
Takes the subwoofer from our surround sound system.
Does NOT take DVDs or DVD player.
Leaves throught the front door, leaving it wide open.  Total time in the house, probably less than 5 minutes.

I can't imagine carrying a PS3, a 20" flat screen monitor, subwoofer, laptop case (though it did have a nice shoulder strap) very far.  Must have gone straight into a car and on the way.

Later in the night, Diana was looking around near the entertainment center and found a pair of needlenose pliers which I'm SURE I've never seen before.  So we called the police back and they'll come pick 'em up, for what it's worth, which probably isn't that much.

We went through a lot of emotions.  Scared and violated, but after talking to the very nice police officer, not as much.  He told us that in our area, violence is very rare, and violence between strangers is even more rare.  This was just a property crime, and no one doubts that if there were signs of anyone being home, nothing would have happened.

I talked to many of the neighbors, all of whom were very appropriately concerned and sympathetic.  Everyone was very helpful in offering information about what they did and didn't see.  Our neighbor on the broken-window side said that he was even out playing with his kids in their back yard for much of the time we were gone, but didn't notice anything.    We live in a very quiet, safe (feeling) neighborhood, and everyone is pretty shocked.

Anyways, crazy stuff.

This afternoon, we went to the YMCA pool with Allison.  I've never seen her so fired up.  It was great.