Boy Burglarized His Townhouse Neighbors, Police Say

Residents of two of three attached townhouses suspected a neighbor boy in the third unit when their homes were broken into, and he confessed to police after they traced his entry route through holes hacked in drywall partitions in the building's attic.

Last Sunday, a woman returned to her home in the 400 block of North 121st St. to find dirt and debris outside her upstairs bedroom door. The door was open, but she knew she had left it shut. Pillows were rearranged on her bed, and her dresser drawers had been gone through.

She would find that she was missing cash – her rent money – and a laptop computer.

It was much the same in another unit of the building. There were dirty smudges, footprints and bits of insulation in upstairs rooms, and cash and a digital camera were missing.

Even before detectives arrived, patrol officers easily discerned that the attic trapdoors had been the means of entry. Fingerprints and footprints on the walls, and tufts of fibreglass batting underneath, made it clear someone had come and gone that way.

In the attic, police found that large holes had been carved through drywall dividers between the living quarters below. Depressions and divots in the floor insulation showed the exact path of the intruder and led back to the attic entrance from the third unit.

The victims said they suspected a boy who lived in that unit, and police noted in their reports that they were quite familiar with him already from earlier contacts and investigations.

When confronted with the evidence on Monday, the boy readily confessed, and the stolen laptop was found in his room. 

He was taken to the Milwaukee County Juvenile Justice Center and turned over to its authority.