Exactly two years ago on December 13th, ourselves and our home were severely violated. I had another dream last night about our house getting broken into and I hope writing this will help me and anyone else who can relate. I also hope it might help prevent some of you becoming victims. It was such a horrible experience I wish it on nobody. So here is the story start to finish, with every detail some of you have never heard.
It was December 13, 2012. One of our off days. We had a meeting at one of the home improvement stores to make final decisions on some new counter tops. I was excited we were finally getting rid of the ugly stained and scratched ones that were here when we moved in. It was about noon when we arrived home.
The garage door opener wasn't working on my side. So we opened the other side and I went in to open it manually. That's when I realized something wasn't right. The door lift chain was moving, but the door was not. Then I noticed my husbands suitcase sitting in the garage. That's strange I thought to my self. Why did he leave it out here? Then I notice the door to go inside is open and the light is on! "Honey you forgot to close the door and turn the light off!" Still not thinking something is up, then I can see into the house....Oh shit! From my view their is glass ALL over the kitchen floor, back door and window broken in! I start shaking, oh crap, oh crap, then run back outside.
After telling my husband somebody broke in, he instructs me to get back into the car and call the police. I do so as my husband ventures in side with his hand gun. Yes he has his conceal and carry permit. I realize now it was very dangerous of him to go inside. We both felt however that the house was empty. In the mean time I am calling 911. Telling the operator that somebody broke in and my husband went inside to investigate, armed. I was all out of sorts, worrying about the cats, the damage, what did they take? My husband returns and says it's all clear. Time to assess the damage.
We start going through the house. The kitchen floor was covered in glass. They tried to break into the back door, safety glass wouldn't budge so they threw a huge stone throught the window. The rock bounced off my glass table then into the oven door, which then shattered ALL over! OH. MY. GOD! Please tell me this isn't happening. I kept thinking where are the cats? I hope their paws aren't all cut up.
I look around, 52" television gone. Xbox gone. Games & movies gone. Basically every electronic device computers and digital frame, taken. Then I remember my grandmothers wedding rings. Oh please not the wedding rings. My jewelry box was dumped all over the bathroom floor and vinegar poured all over it. Yes they poured vinegar and bleach over the window, jewelry box and any other place they may have touched. Pearls not taken but ruined. My grandmothers jewelry was somewhat hidden. Thank goodness they didn't take it. Our closet was a mess, clothes and drawers all over. These pathetic low lives were touching all my underclothes digging for what may have been hidden in drawers. They even took a handgun. These criminals are now armed. It could have been really dangerous if we came home while they were still there.
Around the holidays we receive more packages and there in the foyer was a package they brought in and tore apart. My In-laws sent us some beautiful gifts and cookies. They unwrapped every single thing and spilled the delicious cookies all over the floor. We weren't expecting the package until later that day. This could have been how they knew we weren't home. It also crossed my mind that the only person who knew we weren't home was the lady we had the appointment with for the counter tops. She did ask us a lot of personal questions like if we had kids or pets. Maybe to see if anyone would be home. Not blaming her just saying watch what you tell strangers.
Anyways they unhooked the garage door and loaded everything up, probably without any neighbors noticing. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood about 40 miles outside of Atlanta. We just never expected this to happen out here. I guess we always thought we would be home to protect it if they try. We are the type to hide various weapons around the house. We are lucky the hand gun was the only weapon they stole!
The police finally showed 20 minutes later. They took the report and did a horrible job at finger prints. It's pretty bad when I had to suggest the lady where to dust. I'm sure they deal with this all the time and weren't taking it very seriously. Then they left us to clean up this major mess all on our own. Where do you start? Glass was all over, embedded into the carpet. Oh my lush carpet, ruined. I will say the insurance company was great about everything. They replaced all of the flooring and broken/ or stolen items. All in all the damage exceeded $10,000 and the stolen property exceeded that much as well! All right before Christmas! A boarded door and window for weeks while insurance processed. Happy Holidays to us!
The whole time I was thankful they only took what was replaceable, except for some stored photographs. The cats returned hours later unharmed but really freaked out. I'm usually very much an optimistic. This incident left me feeling violated, vulnerable and much hate for society in whole. That such low life's get away with this. We have to work hard for our possessions and they just come along and take it! Probably never working a job a day in their life! I will not tell you all the hateful things I thought.
After this incident we installed an alarm system. For weeks afterwards I was severely paranoid. Oh yeah, forgot to mention they took the spare keys to my husbands car. So all I kept thinking was they are coming back to take it. So paranoia ensued. I did not want to leave the house. Every noise outside the house had me running to look. Every car that stopped on the street, in my mind was watching our house to see when we leave. I was extremely irritated when I went to work and dealt with the public. So much hate. I know it may have been irrational, but I could not help it.
I lost a lot of faith in humanity that day. I still have occurring dreams that somebody breaks in and I have to shoot them. I suppose I should say nightmares. I have slowly been more comfortable with being home alone. I've also felt much better after learning how to properly use our guns. I wasn't too keen on them before this. It's a slow process and I hope I never have to go through it again.
Take precaution especially this time of year when you receive packages at random times. Set up some fake cameras or fake security stickers to help deter thieves. They can be found on amazon, if you cannot afford the real deal. Don't tell strangers too much information.. Also one of the biggest lessoned learned was cataloging your possessions. Take pictures of high dollar items with serial numbers. That way they can be linked back to you and you have proof of ownership. I hope you never have to deal with this and hope you learned something from our story.
Comments or suggestions? I would love to hear from you! This post may contain affiliate links.
The garage door opener wasn't working on my side. So we opened the other side and I went in to open it manually. That's when I realized something wasn't right. The door lift chain was moving, but the door was not. Then I noticed my husbands suitcase sitting in the garage. That's strange I thought to my self. Why did he leave it out here? Then I notice the door to go inside is open and the light is on! "Honey you forgot to close the door and turn the light off!" Still not thinking something is up, then I can see into the house....Oh shit! From my view their is glass ALL over the kitchen floor, back door and window broken in! I start shaking, oh crap, oh crap, then run back outside.
After telling my husband somebody broke in, he instructs me to get back into the car and call the police. I do so as my husband ventures in side with his hand gun. Yes he has his conceal and carry permit. I realize now it was very dangerous of him to go inside. We both felt however that the house was empty. In the mean time I am calling 911. Telling the operator that somebody broke in and my husband went inside to investigate, armed. I was all out of sorts, worrying about the cats, the damage, what did they take? My husband returns and says it's all clear. Time to assess the damage.
We start going through the house. The kitchen floor was covered in glass. They tried to break into the back door, safety glass wouldn't budge so they threw a huge stone throught the window. The rock bounced off my glass table then into the oven door, which then shattered ALL over! OH. MY. GOD! Please tell me this isn't happening. I kept thinking where are the cats? I hope their paws aren't all cut up.
I look around, 52" television gone. Xbox gone. Games & movies gone. Basically every electronic device computers and digital frame, taken. Then I remember my grandmothers wedding rings. Oh please not the wedding rings. My jewelry box was dumped all over the bathroom floor and vinegar poured all over it. Yes they poured vinegar and bleach over the window, jewelry box and any other place they may have touched. Pearls not taken but ruined. My grandmothers jewelry was somewhat hidden. Thank goodness they didn't take it. Our closet was a mess, clothes and drawers all over. These pathetic low lives were touching all my underclothes digging for what may have been hidden in drawers. They even took a handgun. These criminals are now armed. It could have been really dangerous if we came home while they were still there.
Around the holidays we receive more packages and there in the foyer was a package they brought in and tore apart. My In-laws sent us some beautiful gifts and cookies. They unwrapped every single thing and spilled the delicious cookies all over the floor. We weren't expecting the package until later that day. This could have been how they knew we weren't home. It also crossed my mind that the only person who knew we weren't home was the lady we had the appointment with for the counter tops. She did ask us a lot of personal questions like if we had kids or pets. Maybe to see if anyone would be home. Not blaming her just saying watch what you tell strangers.
Anyways they unhooked the garage door and loaded everything up, probably without any neighbors noticing. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood about 40 miles outside of Atlanta. We just never expected this to happen out here. I guess we always thought we would be home to protect it if they try. We are the type to hide various weapons around the house. We are lucky the hand gun was the only weapon they stole!
The police finally showed 20 minutes later. They took the report and did a horrible job at finger prints. It's pretty bad when I had to suggest the lady where to dust. I'm sure they deal with this all the time and weren't taking it very seriously. Then they left us to clean up this major mess all on our own. Where do you start? Glass was all over, embedded into the carpet. Oh my lush carpet, ruined. I will say the insurance company was great about everything. They replaced all of the flooring and broken/ or stolen items. All in all the damage exceeded $10,000 and the stolen property exceeded that much as well! All right before Christmas! A boarded door and window for weeks while insurance processed. Happy Holidays to us!
The whole time I was thankful they only took what was replaceable, except for some stored photographs. The cats returned hours later unharmed but really freaked out. I'm usually very much an optimistic. This incident left me feeling violated, vulnerable and much hate for society in whole. That such low life's get away with this. We have to work hard for our possessions and they just come along and take it! Probably never working a job a day in their life! I will not tell you all the hateful things I thought.
After this incident we installed an alarm system. For weeks afterwards I was severely paranoid. Oh yeah, forgot to mention they took the spare keys to my husbands car. So all I kept thinking was they are coming back to take it. So paranoia ensued. I did not want to leave the house. Every noise outside the house had me running to look. Every car that stopped on the street, in my mind was watching our house to see when we leave. I was extremely irritated when I went to work and dealt with the public. So much hate. I know it may have been irrational, but I could not help it.
I lost a lot of faith in humanity that day. I still have occurring dreams that somebody breaks in and I have to shoot them. I suppose I should say nightmares. I have slowly been more comfortable with being home alone. I've also felt much better after learning how to properly use our guns. I wasn't too keen on them before this. It's a slow process and I hope I never have to go through it again.
Take precaution especially this time of year when you receive packages at random times. Set up some fake cameras or fake security stickers to help deter thieves. They can be found on amazon, if you cannot afford the real deal. Don't tell strangers too much information.. Also one of the biggest lessoned learned was cataloging your possessions. Take pictures of high dollar items with serial numbers. That way they can be linked back to you and you have proof of ownership. I hope you never have to deal with this and hope you learned something from our story.
Comments or suggestions? I would love to hear from you! This post may contain affiliate links.