Burglary at Home

Beaverton, Oregon, 23 Jun 1989:

Our home was broken into this night while we slept. Strangers came into the house through the inside garage door which we had left unlocked. Tom had fallen asleep on the family room floor and about 3:30 AM something woke me up. I noticed Tom was not in bed and thought I'd just go back to sleep, but the thought came into my head, "Just go check on Tom."

I opened my bedroom door. The sound of the door opening may have scared the intruders off. I went downstairs, spotted Tom asleep on the floor, woke him and asked, "What are you doing down here?"

He said, "I don't know. I must have fallen asleep." At that point, he came to bed.

When Tom got up about 7:00 AM he noticed the inside garage door was propped open with the floor mat. Then, he started looking around and noticed the video camera (which had been beside the TV) was gone. He asked me if I moved it. I hadn't.

Then, I noticed my purse was gone. The Ninentendo had the cord wrapped all around it, ready to take, but was left behind.

If they came in while Tom was asleep on the floor, then they walked right past him to get to the video camera. In all they took the video camera, 33 mm camera and flash, my purse will all my credit cards and two checkbooks, plus Tom's wallet with all his credit cards.

I think they could have taken so much more, but were maybe surprised and fled.

The insurance covered our loss minus a $250 deductible. It was mainly an inconvenience. I spent the weekend cancelling all the credit cards, stopping payment on my checks, trying to figure out my checkbook balances, etc. Then, I had to write a follow up letter to all the credit card companies verifying they were notified. It was a major pain.

I'm relieved they didn't take more than they did, and that they didn't harm us. I'm sure we were protected that night.