Upon arriving at home yesterday at around quarter of five I discovered that I had been robbed.
Yes, robbed.
When I opened the connecting door between the garage and the kitchen the lights were on, and as I came further into the room I saw that my desk drawers were pulled out. I couldn’t quite grasp what I was seeing so I called out, “Hello?” and got no answer. Reaching the open end of the kitchen I could see into the main room of the apartment. Some of my luggage was on the floor packed with stuff, the bathroom and bedroom lights were on, a lamp was knocked over.
Someone or someones had been in my home.
I called the apartment management wanting to know if anyone had been in my apartment that day for any reason. I guess I still wasn’t processing the obvious at that point. I was assured that no maintenance worker had been in my place that day. Hanging up I called 9-11. Within ten minutes I had a member of the Overland Park PD in my living room. The officer took pictures and fingerprinted three items that he felt had good prints. (Later I learned from him that there had been another burglary in the same area; he didn’t know yet if it was similar to my break-in.)
It appears that they searched my closets and found the luggage (a suitcase, a small backpack, and an old gym bag) and packed then full of DVDs. The three bags were all left behind. The desktop computer speakers and some other computer cords were in one bag. It looks like they had just started on the computer when they were scared away.
There is a patio door that was forced open. It turns out that the dead-bolt lock wasn’t working properly. The mortise in the jamb wasn’t deep enough to allow the bolt to be completely extended. When it isn’t fully extended the bolt can be pushed back into its receiver with almost no pressure. The complex maintenance supervisor came out last evening and drilled out the mortise so now the bolt fully extends and locks into place requiring that the level be used to release it.
By the end of the evening I had managed to straighten up most of the mess that was left behind. Items from some jewelry boxes were scattered all over the bed, and the floor was covered with things they had tossed aside. I happen to have a list of all my DVD movies (I know, “nerd”) and so I was able to determine that only three titles are missing. Also missing is my digital camera, its bag with the charger and spare batteries, and USB cord. A spindle of 3 inch CD disks that the camera uses is gone, including the 15 or so disks with every picture I’ve taken in the past four years, is gone. I have copies of all the pictures but I hate that someone else now has my memories. Some $1 gold coins and silver dollars are missing as well.
What the bastards didn’t find was the good jewelry, nor did they recognize the value of the paintings on my walls. Nothing was damaged or harmed. It could have been a lot worse. But I still want to wash everything I own.
Today I’ll call the insurance company and start that process.