Homes are supposed to be places where we can unwind and feel safe and private. But sometimes unfortunate things happen that ruin these kinds of feelings. For instance, burglars breaking into houses. 

Today’s original poster is a woman who suffered such a crime. And what is even more interesting (and kind of disturbing) is that this burglar managed to break and enter several times by stealing small and relatively inexpensive things. So, it took quite some time for the woman to realize it was even happening. 

More info: Mumsnet

How should a person react when they suspect their home might have been broken into?

Image credits: Beyzaa Yurtkuran / Pexels (not the actual photo)

A woman couldn’t find her purse in the morning despite remembering where she’d placed it before going to sleep

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Kittensat36 

Image credits: MART PRODUCTION / Pexels (not the actual photo)

She suspected that her home might have been burgled because it wasn’t the only thing that had disappeared from her home in the last couple of weeks

Image credits: Kittensat36 

Later, it appeared that she was really burgled when her acquaintance brought the purse to her after finding it on the street

One morning, the OP woke up thinking it would be a common work day, but very quickly it all changed. She found out that her purse was gone. She remembered that the night before she’d left it on an ottoman, which now was empty. 

So, she decided to take an emergency day off work. During this day she hoped to find the handbag in her untidy flat. But after checking even odd places like the washing machine, it became clear that it was gone.

The only logical answer would be that she was burgled. The purse couldn’t have walked out itself, could it? On average, there are around 3,062 burglaries in the U.S. every day. While we’re not sure which country the OP is from, it’s still quite a terrifying statistic, isn’t it? 

On the other hand, the woman pondered how the burglar was able to get in. Every door was shut during the night and the only open window opened to a secure garden. And if you were to climb through that window, you would have to climb over the OP’s bed. 

Then, she remembered that over the last couple of weeks, some other stuff had gone missing from her home. For instance, her medication container and a batch of paperwork. Interestingly, such valuable stuff as a laptop was untouched. 

To talk a little bit more about burglaries from a legal side, Bored Panda contacted Judge’s Assistant Jurgita Kasinavičiūtė from the Kaunas Chamber of the Kaunas District Court in Lithuania. 

She said that if someone suspects that their home might have been broken into, the best thing to do is call the police. And then, to not move anything until they search the place and make a decision about whether a burglary might have happened or not. 

Image credits: Tetiana Kotyk / Pexels (not the actual photo)

In this story, while at first the burglary was only suspected, later it was confirmed. Yet, it wasn’t done by law enforcement. It was a woman, who the author had once chatted with about her cats, who helped. 

Apparently, this woman’s mother-in-law found the original poster’s handbag and its contents scattered on the pavement. They found her work pass, which led them to bring the purse back to its owner. 

So, her home was really broken into. Yet, it still isn’t clear how it happened. Our interviewee mentioned that one of the challenges in cases deemed as burglaries is to find the suspects and collect the needed evidence. This story isn’t immune to challenges like these. The woman doesn’t have any suspects (or at least she didn’t share about having any) or an idea of how the burglar could have gotten in. 

Well, if she ever decided to find and prosecute the stealer, she could ask for help from the people who found her purse. Yet, relying solely on their testimony isn’t advisable. As Jurgita said, “Only testimonies wouldn’t be enough to prove someone’s guilt. The people might not remember or witness enough things; they can lie and so on.”

So, she noted that physical evidence is very important for prosecution. “There could be fingerprints, shoe prints, and many other things that can help to identify the criminal.”

Jurgita also pointed out that when looking for a burglar, every detail is important, even if it seems insignificant or even funny at first. So, while right now it seems unsolvable who the burglar is and how they got in, maybe the law enforcement people could help the woman to figure it out. 

Now, as many people online suggested, the first thing she should do is make sure it doesn’t happen again – get cameras installed, change the locks, add alarms, and similar safety stuff. And then, if she’s up for it, as Jurgita suggested, she could try to get justice for the violation of privacy. As the woman said at the beginning of the post, it made her very upset. Plus, she lost some of her stuff, so the reasons to solve it are clear as day, aren’t they? 

What would you do if you were in the author’s place?

People online were worried about the woman’s safety and didn’t shy away from advising her to change her locks, install cameras, and take other safety measures

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