On Apr 5, 8:06*pm, Rebel1 wrote:
Burglars recently entered my home while I was away overnight. When I
returned, I saw two possible ways to enter and exit. In the kitchen, the
sliding door to the patio was open enough for someone to easily pass
through. In the fireplace room, a large casement window at the left end
of a bay window was open, and the casement operator was bent, as shown
he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9027891...in/photostream

Assuming that I forgot to lock the kitchen door before leaving home,
someone could have easily entered and exited that way, without bothering
to touch the casement window.

Assuming that the kitchen door was locked, I don't see any way he could
have entered through the casement window. There is a screen on the
inside held in place by four plastic clips. (One is visible in the above
link.) The screen was laying on the floor, undamaged, and none of the
clips was damaged. From the outside, there was no damage to the frames
of the kitchen door or the casement window, as there would be if someone
used a pry bar.

It takes a great deal of force to bend the casement operator; I couldn't
straighten it using a bench vise. It is impossible to bend it upwards as
shown in the link with the window closed because the bottom of the
window frame would have blocked it.

The crank handle was lying nearby on the floor of the bay window. It's
only held in place by friction; no need to loosen a screw.

Aside from the loss of the stuff stolen, my only expense was $45 for a
replacement casement operator (brand: Truth). The casement hinges and
locking bar were okay. The window frame wasn't bent out of shape.

Questions:
1. Can anyone figure a way of getting in, either through the kitchen
door or the casement window, without leaving signs outside?
2. If they entered via the kitchen, why fiddle with the casement window?
3. If they entered via the casement window, why take the time to bend
the operator?

To see how my home looked, go to youtube and enter "house burglary
07726" to see the 5:32 video. The place looks messy, but nothing except
the casement operator was damaged. There was no gratuitous vandalism.

R1

Answers:

1. Yes, if the casement window was left slightly open you
would not need a pry bar to open it further if you know what
you are doing... If the sliding door was left unsecured all
someone had to do was give it a tug...

2. As someone else said, the side of your house where
the casement window is located may have provided better
cover or been closer to the getaway vehicle than the slider
and may have been out of line of site from any neighbors
who were home at the time...

3. They didn't, that damage clearly occurred when the
window was pushed or forced from the outside when
it was in the fully open position... You wouldn't be able
to do that to the operator when the window is closed
as the frames of both the window pane and the window
opening would protect that piece from bending that far...

It sounds like you left one or both of these openings
unsecured when you left...

It also looks like you were robbed by junkies who
needed a fix really badly and they were looking for
money in all the typical places people hide it:

In various spots in the kitchen, under couch cushions,
under the mattress and in bedroom drawers/closets...

If your house had an alarm system installed in it,
your forgetfulness of leaving a door or window
unlocked would have only afforded the burglar
3 to 5 minutes of time inside unless you have
really terrible police response times in your area...

You were robbed by junkies because a pro would
not have left your house in such a mess and
would have only taken a small backpack's worth
of the most valuable stuff -- i.e. bank statements,
credit card statements, extra credit cards you
don't carry with you, valuable jewelry/silver, spare
car keys so they can return and steal your vehicle
at a later date, spare house keys so they can
return and burglarize your home again easier the
next time, etc... Pro burglars take so little and
leave hardly a trace behind, your burglar was
disorganized and frenzied and left a huge mess...

You should at once do the following:

If you had any vehicle or house keys which
are now missing have the door locks and
vehicle(s) re-keyed...

If you had any account statements for a
bank or credit card account go missing
have the accounts frozen/closed and
the account numbers changed...

Consider installing a home security
alarm system and some motion
detector activated lighting around the perimeter
of your home...

~~ Evan