A wolf in our camp

This isn’t a story about Rustic Pines, but rather a story about what happened when we arrived home from our last trip.  Fair warning, this is a long story, but in our opinion, worth the read.

 

After our incredible trip over the extended Fourth of July weekend, we sadly made our way back to our suburban home.  We came home on the 4th of July, because we both had to work the following day.  When we arrived at home at 8:30 in the evening, we were both exhausted.  As we pulled into the driveway, we immediately noticed a gas can near my vehicle.  I thought it was odd, because I didn’t remember John placing it in that location.  After pulling into the driveway, we noticed a pile of wood near our septic mound.  This wasn’t totally unusual, as our neighbors know that we partially heat our house with wood and sometimes gift us with a tree that they took down and have no need for.  However, the location of the pile was unusual; we have a wood shed on the OTHER side of the septic mound.  We both exited the truck and made our way over to the woodpile.  While we were a little excited to have scored a pile of maple, we noticed that whomever gave us the wood left deep ruts not only across the septic mound, but all the way across our back yard.  John was really upset, because any of our neighbors that would have left us wood would not have knowingly rutted up our yard.  He immediately left to go speak to our next door neighbors out of confusion.

I made my way to the door of our house, and inserted my key in the lock to unlock the deadbolt.  Thinking back to Friday evening when we were leaving, I recall John locked the deadbolt, because I was standing next to him.  When I turned my key, I noticed that it didn’t feel locked, but it was just a passing thought.  After I stepped inside the entry way, I observed a few of our items laying on the floor.  My first thought was that those damn cats knocked stuff off the window sill (they are both young and pretty wild).  Stepping further into the house, I noticed a general disarray, and thought to myself “boy, I don’t remember leaving the house such a mess when we left”.  You know how you are walking into a situation, and you know there is a problem, but it doesn’t quite hit you to make the realization that something is very wrong?  This is exactly the situation I was in.

After setting my purse down in the kitchen, I made my way further into the living room, and glanced over to the dining room.  I stared at our window for several seconds, at where our window air conditioner unit should have been.  I thought to myself “wait a minute, where is our air conditioner”.  I walked over to the window, and noticed not only was the air conditioner missing, but the window was screen-less and was shut.  I began to step backwards, away from the window, and really started to look around the house.  I began to notice items around me, that didn’t belong to us.  I had a bolt of fear run through me and it dawned on me that it was not a good idea for me to be standing in the house alone, clearly something was very wrong.

I bolted out of the door and ran over to the neighbors, where my sweet Sailor was asking about the wood.  I immediately told John that someone had been inside of the house.  He had a temporary look of confusion, then reacted by running back to our house to check for himself.  He told me to wait outside, and he took out his gun (definitely necessary at the land with the wild animals) and searched through our house.  After a good while, he came back outside, and said “you aren’t going to believe this, you have to come inside and see, but don’t touch anything”.  With a momentary fear, I asked “are you sure there isn’t anyone inside?”  He responded quickly by stating that he had cleared every nook and cranny of the house.

He took me upstairs to our bathroom, where I saw women’s clothes, that weren’t mine, laying on the floor.  Around the bathtub, there were toiletries that definitely weren’t mine; shampoo, body wash, razor, toothbrush, etc.  I was completely stunned, this isn’t making any sense to me?  Someone was living in my house?  We were only gone for a few days…I just wasn’t comprehending what was happening.  The more I began looking around our house, the more items were strewn about that either were not mine, or were not in the proper place.  The entire house had been ransacked and gone through, room by room.  John stated that we needed to leave and call the police.

After calling 911, we sat outside totally stunned.  It was completely surreal that someone had not only broken into our house, but had gone through all of our things.  It didn’t take much time for the sheriff to show up, but in the interim, we called our good friends and neighbors, Dave and Leah, who immediately came over to offer us support.  When deputy Derek introduced himself, and his partner deputy Derek to us… it took a moment for that to register.  Derek & Derek… seriously?  We may have made a Newhart reference about “Hi, this is my brother Derek, and this is my other brother Derek”, which was followed by the younger deputy having no clue what we were talking about…alas, we are getting old.  After the awkward introduction, we explained the situation, and then we all began walking around our house.  We saw our air conditioner was laying on the ground, outside of our window, in pieces.  Dirty dishes, with partially consumed food, empty Mountain Dew cans strewn about, clothes on floor of our bathroom.  One oddity, was all of our household cleaners, normally kept under the kitchen sink, were now empty, and in the upstairs bathroom.  I noticed my “winter purse” which I kept in the closet, was emptied out on the bed in our room.  Next to the purse, was a cell phone that didn’t belong to either of us.  The bed had been slept in, and on my nightstand, was a glass pipe for smoking either meth or crack.  After we went through the house, we walked the deputies around the outside to the window air conditioner.

The officers donned gloves, told us to stay outside, and immediately began going through our house.  After a thorough search, they asked me to come inside, to identify what items weren’t mine.  They collected many items, and placed them in evidence bags, the clothes, toiletries, crack pipe, drugs, random notes that aliens were coming to get her, etc., and took pictures of everything.  I said to Derek…or maybe it was Derek “I’m really embarrassed that you are seeing my house like this”.  Isn’t that stupid?  That’s the only thing that had popped into my head about this situation?

Upon leaving the house, I started thinking about the gas can again, and asked John what was in that can.  He responded with a groan that there was kerosene in it.  We both started peeking in my vehicle, and noticed items in there that also weren’t mine.  The deputies went back inside, to try to locate the spare car key on our key holder, but it was gone.  Great, not only had they lived in our house, but had taken my vehicle and trashed it as well.  Leah called her granddaughter who stayed at her place to look after their dogs for the weekend, and asked if she had seen my vehicle driving around.  She stated that she had seen it driving through the neighborhood a couple of times over the weekend.  It was that time that Leah recalled briefly seeing a black pick-up truck in the driveway when they returned home that afternoon.  They assumed that we were home and had friends over.

It may not have been the wisest of choices, but when Leah asked if John and I would like a drink (Adult beverage) we both responded “YES!”  We enjoyed the calming effects of a cocktail with our friends while Derek & Derek finished their work.  By the time they finished, the sun had set, the fireworks went off, and neighbors started to return home from the Independence Day celebrations.

As we were asking the deputies follow up questions, I noticed a pair of headlights coming down the road.  We live on a narrow dead end road, but traffic is not unusual, as we share the road with quite a few neighbors.  What caught my attention, is the vehicle stopped, and then began to reverse.  I asked, why was a car backing up down the road?  The two deputies turned to look, and than immediately made for their squad car.  It was actually a kind of funny moment, as Derek and Derek performed this little “keystone cop” dance while figuring out who was going to drive.  I turned back to John, but he wasn’t there.  I looked to Dave and asked “Where’s John?”  He replied “He took off on foot after the vehicle!”  It was then that I heard my husband yelling at someone down the road.  As soon as I had noticed the vehicle backing up, John didn’t say a word, but took off sprinting through our 3 acre yard, across Dave & Leah’s 2 acre yard, down the block to the intersection where the vehicle was attempting to turn around.  He later told us that he got in front of the truck, and began questioning the driver – a small woman.  The screaming was his anger rising up as he noticed a large carboy (seven gallon plastic jug) that we save our spare change in, sitting on the passenger seat next to her.  This was the woman who had violated our home, returning to the scene to presumably collect her things, along with ours. He distracted her long enough for the team of Derek & Derek to pull up behind her, lights flashing.  John disengaged when the deputies walked up and took over.

By now, the gathering had moved from our driveway, to Leah and Dave’s front steps, where we had a better view of the action.  We were soon joined by John’s nephew Matt, and his fiance Lauren.  They live just down the road and came to offer any support they could.  There may have been additional drinks made at this point, but that’s not important.  As the deputies worked, they questioned, detained, and obliged the woman to observe the plush interior of the back of the squad car.  As they searched the truck, they asked John to come and tell them if any of our belongings were in the truck.  They recovered my spare car key from her pocket, the clothes she was wearing were mine, and of course she had spent more than half our spare change (in excess of $200.00).

The all important mystery of the maple logs was soon solved.  John said that the back seat of her truck was filled with tree trimming equipment.  The deputies said the truck was registered to a man she claimed was her ex boyfriend, and was a subject of an ongoing civil action.  John put two and two together and figured that she drove up the side of the septic mound and threw the truck in reverse with the tailgate open, so when she hit the brakes, the heavy logs would spill out of the bed of the truck and onto the ground.  By the number of ruts, it must have taken her several attempts.  With a log pile now blocking the truck, her only option was to drive up and over the mound and through the yard.  But why empty the truck?  Obviously, to make room for our belongings.

By 1:30 AM, the deputies were wrapped up, the truck had been towed, and everyone was quite tired.  We said our goodbyes, and walked back home to try and sleep before work the next day.  As we walked upstairs to our bedroom, I told John that there was no way I was sleeping in our bed again after that gross woman slept in it.  He said we could sleep in our spare bedroom for a couple of days until we get things cleaned up.  I told him no, because I had a huge fear that she was not alone in our house, and there may still be someone else who could come back in the middle of the night looking for their stuff.  John grabbed some pillows, blankets, and our guns, and lead me back downstairs.  I laid on the couch with the dog, and John slept on a chair with the guns at the ready.  Sleep was fitful, but I did sleep.

The next morning, John called his boss and told him he was staying home to pick up and secure things.  I got ready and had John drive me to work, wondering how I was going to get through the day.  I called John around lunch time and had him come pick me up.  The emotional roller coaster had taken its toll and I had to go home.  I was pleased when John suggested that on the way home, we stop and buy new sheets for our bed.  We have multiple sets, but there is something about sleeping on a brand new set of sheets that makes you feel better.

There really is no end to this story, as you may imagine, every time you walk out the door, every time you slide the key into the door lock, you remember.  You worry.  Are my things safe?  Am I safe?  Will someone be hiding in the house when I get home?  We were actually very lucky.  If she had been in the house when we arrived home, she could have hurt or killed me while John was talking to the neighbors.  If she had been here, or returned after the sheriff left, John could have potentially killed her while defending our home.  There was little to no damage to my vehicle; John consulted multiple sources, and took steps to make sure the fuel system was clean and the engine was working the way it should.  She hadn’t taken anything of significance from the house, not that she wouldn’t have, she just felt like going and celebrating freedom with everyone else, before she robbed us blind.

In reflection, our lives have changed quite a bit.  We are now the owners of a security system.  We started a neighborhood Facebook page so we all know when people will be out of town and we can watch each others backs.  We take a closer look at each and every vehicle that drives by.  We started questioning everything we do that makes us vulnerable.  What do we broadcast on social media about upcoming plans?  What do we leave unsecured around the yard that may assist someone in breaking in?  How do we store our valuables?  Are we making it easy for someone to take our things?  In reality, that wretched woman did take our most valuable possession; Our peace of mind.  It will take years, if ever to reclaim it.  It also takes money to buy back some of that secure feeling.  The most immediate cost was the security system, over the long term, will cost us much in equipment and monitoring.

One of the biggest reminders of the loss of peace of mind, was the following few days and the information we received from the sheriffs department.  On Wednesday afternoon, John called and ordered our security system.  The salesperson at Simplisafe was horrified when John told her our story.  She said “You need this right now!  I’m overnighting it to you at no additional cost.  Unfortunately, it’s late in the day, so the order will not be processed until the morning, but you’ll have it in your hands on Friday morning.”  We both went to work on Thursday, and mid-morning, John received a call from the sheriffs department informing us that the woman had been released… Barely 24 hours after being arrested for breaking into our home, and a full 24 hours before we could install our security system, she was on the street again.  I decided that I would work from home on Friday, just in case she was dumb enough to come back.   On a side note, the Simplisafe people have been great to work with.  Our package arrived on Friday morning as promised, and the system is so easy to install, I did it myself before John got home from work! It was our first step in reclaiming our peace of mind.

In an upcoming series of posts, we’re going to outline some of the steps you can take to secure your property.  Some conventional, and some creative.  There are many people who, like us, have had their world violated, and we’re going to share the best ideas we find over the coming months.

 

Stay tuned, stay safe, stay vigilant.