Woman May Have Missed Encounter with Burglar by Minutes

A Wauwatosa woman very likely just missed what might have been a dangerous encounter Thursday when her home was broken into and a neighbor told police she had seen a suspect leaving just a short time before the victim came home.

When the neighbor was told a burglary had occurred, she suspected the man she had spotted because she had seen him once before — the same day another house in the same block had been broken into a month ago.

According to the police report:

At 5:06 p.m. Thursday, a resident of the 2700 block of North 75^th Street reported that someone had broken into her home through a kitchen window and stolen nearly $7,500 worth of jewelry and other items.

The woman had been the last family member to leave the house in the morning and the first to return, and as she pulled into her driveway, off an alley, she saw that the screen to the kitchen window had been ripped, and she immediately called police.

Walking south down the alley, she saw that her side door was standing open, and she called 911 again to give an update. She then waited outside with neighbors until police arrived.

Walking through the house with her, police found that the kitchen window had been shattered and a box of garbage bags had been removed from a cabinet, leading them to suspect that at least one had been used to carry off stolen goods.

Officers found that the burglar or burglars had rifled cabinets throughout the house, and even the attic had been entered, but with the exception of a men’s leather coat, only jewelry and watches kept in the master bedroom had been taken.

Officers also found damage to the garage gutter and determined that someone had climbed between the buildings, just three feet apart, to get easier access to the kitchen window.

Canvassing the neighborhood, officers spoke to a neighbor a few doors away and learned that she had seen a man riding a red bicycle near the residence a few minutes before 5 p.m. The neighbor said she had seen the same man riding slowly up the street the same day another home in the same block had been burglarized on May 10.

In that instance, another neighbor watching the home while the owner was away saw that a window air conditioner had been removed and and the back door was standing open. She called police, who found that a forced entry had been made and $2,275 worth of cameras and camera equipment stolen.

The police report on that burglary did not mention any suspect, so apparently the neighbor who saw the man on the bicycle did not report it to police at the time.