The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
DENNY-BLAINE: Moving out
Police responded to Hillside Drive East to investigate a report of a storage unit being burglarized between Sept. 18 and Sept. 21.
According to the police report, someone entered a portable storage unit, stealing numerous items that would require a truck, the victim said: a $5,000 cashmere-silk rug, a $10,000 hand-carved rocking chair, a dining set and dishes, a crystal water pitcher, an antique spinning wheel and a twin-bed box spring. Other items are still unaccounted for.
The storage unit was last checked on Sept. 18; all items were still there, filling up half of the storage unit, and the lock was engaged. On Sept. 21, the lock was open and several large items were missing.
Only two people had keys to the lock; police tested the lock and the key, and both still worked.
LESCHI: Suspicious suspects
A woman in the 500 block of 29th Avenue flagged down police on Sept. 13 because she arrived home around 1:45 p.m. to find two suspicious males in their late teens to early 20s in her side yard, acting suspicious. They claimed to be cutting through an alley.
The officers, who had investigated a burglary report earlier in the day about a block away, were responding to yet another burglary call in the 500 block of 30th Avenue.
In that particular incident, the suspect had removed a window screen to the victims’ home between 11:45 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. and entered through an open window.
The victims later found the window screen in the neighbors’ yard and the window was partially closed.
The suspect ransacked the home, the refrigerator and freezer were left open and an empty vodka bottle was taken from the freezer and left on the counter.
Among the stolen items were a two laptop computers, two tablet computers, about $2,000 worth of fountain pens, a $900 necklace, a $700 ring and prescription drugs.
The suspect appeared to have left through the back door, as that was found unlocked.
Unlocked door
A man went downstairs in his home in the 200 block of 32nd Avenue around 9 a.m. on Sept. 4 to discover his laptop computer, a tablet computer and $21 cash were missing.
His girlfriend said the items were there when she left at 7 a.m.
There were no signs of forced entry. The man told police that he usually leaves his door unlocked.
The resident said there have been a “string of strange events” at his home that week. He told police that an overnight guest heard a male voice say “hello” before heading upstairs, though no one else was around. The next day, the resident heard a strange noise upstairs and then saw someone walk out the front door. The day after, someone prowled his car.
The responding officer recommended he lock his doors from that point on.
MADISON VALLEY: Family burglary
A woman on 31st Avenue East called police at 9:10 p.m. on Sept. 23 to report that her home had been burglarized.
She told police that she returned from a short trip on Sept. 22 to find “things…have been moved.” The next day, she discovered that six expensive coats had been stolen from her closet.
She suspects her son, who has a drug addiction and has stolen from her in the past, of the burglary. He has a key and is staying in Federal Way, but she didn’t know his address.
Police advised her to change her locks.
Occupied burglary
A woman was asleep in her home in the 1800 block of 26th Avenue around 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 4 until she heard her bedroom door opening. Seeing an unknown man step into her room, she yelled at him.
The suspect immediately slammed the bedroom door shut and ran out of the home. The woman saw the suspect running westbound and then northbound through an alley.
Her roommate told police he was in another part of the home when he heard several loud noises downstairs, but he thought it was the woman. He then heard a loud slamming sound.
After talking with his roommate about the suspect, he ran outside to find the suspect, but he couldn’t find him.
A K-9 unit responded but was unable to track the suspect.
The suspect entered by breaking a windowpane in the door and unlocking the door.
Nothing appeared to have been taken, and no fingerprints were found.
MADRONA: Alarmed
Police responded to a residential alarm in the 2900 block of East Cherry Street on Sept. 13 at 2:55 p.m. The officer arrived to find the resident standing in his living room. He told the officer that he had already checked the home.
The suspect entered the home by cutting and removing three window screens. Nothing was taken during the incident.
The resident thinks the alarm scared the suspect, and he left through the back door.
The responding officer was able to find fingerprints on the door handle, the lock and the window frame; these were submitted into evidence.
While they were gone
A pet-sitter called police to report that someone had broken into a home in the 700 block of 31st Avenue between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Sept. 3.
The pet-sitter told police the residents had left that morning. She arrived at 8 p.m. to find a broken window next to where the key was kept on the counter. She thinks the suspect broke the window, took the key and then entered the home.
After speaking with one of the residents, she determined that a box containing $2000 worth of coins and a pair of $900 diamond earrings were missing.
A footprint was fond on the kitchen counter, but no other evidence was found.