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.

There's a third possibility: The do-bad(s) entered through an unlocked front
door and locked the door before they left through the kitchen door. The
broken casement window may be an unsuccessful attempt to open it.

Another possibility is that he (she, they, it) is still in your house.