INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a string of break-ins on the city’s southeast side.
Police tell FOX59/CBS4 the thief targeted dozens of cars and homes this week in Franklin Township near Shelbyville Road and Arlington Avenue.
Neighbors said news of a burglar on the loose had everyone on edge.
“I feel extremely violated. Very, very scared,” said Carla Wilson, the neighborhood’s HOA president.
Police said the thief broke into Wilson’s house overnight Monday around 4 a.m. while she was asleep.
“When I woke up in the morning and I went to put my jewelry on and it’s missing,” explained Wilson. “It’s like that’s weird, you know who would have taken my jewelry? How did my jewelry become missing? So, then I was like that’s very strange so I’m looking through the house, and it’s not here. Then I noticed the doors were not shut. I was like, ‘The doors are always shut and locked.’ So then and it hit me, ‘Ok, I’ve been robbed’.”
It was all caught on Wilson’s home camera system. Security footage of the incident, given to FOX59/CBS4 by Wilson, can be seen below.
The man covered head to toe, only exposing his eyes, first broke into Wilson’s family car that was parked outside.
The thief took the garage door opener from the car and opened Wilson’s garage.
The man then broke into Wilson’s car that was parked inside and ransacked it. He stole money, an iPod and sunglasses.
That’s when Wilson says the thief used WD-40 from her garage to get into the door to her house.
“I could see the WD-40 sprayed down the side of the door and across the threshold of the door,” she said. “So he literally thought the door would squeak. So he was totally prepared.”
Wilson said one of the most unsettling parts was what the thief did next.
He stood in her bedroom doorway just feet away from her and stared at her while she slept.
“It’s beyond creepy. Had I woken up, I would have screamed. Or, I would have reached for my gun to be quite honest,” said Wilson. “With him standing four feet from my bed, I would have not came out on the winning side.”
That’s when Wilson says the man made his way into her living room, scoped out her house and stole multiple pieces of jewelry, including her favorite diamond ring that was a gift from her daughter.
The man is then seen on video nonchalantly walking out Wilson’s front door. In total, he spent 7 minutes inside Wilson’s home.
“Even when he saw me, he didn’t walk fast, he didn’t take his hands out of his pockets. He was very comfortable,” said Wilson.
IMPD was in the neighborhood Thursday evening investigating and told FOX59/CBS4 the burglar got into dozens of cars in the area.
Wilson said she hopes they catch him. She added that while the thief stole her possessions, he won’t steal her peace or her drive to prevent someone else from falling victim.
“I’m still creeped out,” she said. “Because I don’t know, is he following me? He knows everything about me. Is he going to move on to the next woman because in his mind he got by with this? What if the next woman gets startled and wakes up? It could save her life doing this interview and trying to expose who he is so we can try to catch him.”
Wilson said her family is offering a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest.
IMPD officers we talked to said they encourage anyone who had a car broken into this week in the area to report it by calling Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
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