A burglar hit another home near Key West Cemetery this week, leading neighbors to believe it may be the same culprit who has broken into other homes near the graveyard–often while residents are asleep in their beds.
Key West Police spokeswoman Alyson Crean said detectives investigating the crime are trying to determine if the burglar who hit 622 Angela Street in the pre-dawn Thursday is the same burglar who has hit nearby homes and avoided arrest for more than a year.
Not only that, but the burglar grabbed items right next to the victim’s head as she slept, the victim told police.
Key West Police Chief Donie Lee told KonkLife last week that he is worried because residents have encountered the serial burglar in their homes. He fears the mix is a recipe for violence, he said.
“I am extremely concerned by the fact that he is in homes where people are encountering him,” Lee said. “Burglars might use violence in an attempt to escape and homeowners could be forced to defend themselves and their homes using force.”
In the latest incident, the Angela Street resident called police on Thursday to report her IPhone, Kindle e-reader, and laptop missing from her home.
Here’s what the victim told police:
She got home from work Wednesday night around 10 p.m. and put her IPhone and Kindle on the “head of her bed before going to sleep.”
Her cat woke her at 7:15 Thursday morning and when she reached for her phone to check the time, the phone and the Kindle were gone. She got up and walked into the living room to use her laptop to locate her phone. The laptop was gone, as were the charging cords for all three devices.
The victim then noticed that her front door was unlocked. She also discovered the thief had stolen her medication from her kitchen counter.
Detectives reported that they could not find “physical evidence to collect.”
However, a neighbor reported hearing someone walking outside the victim’s home around 4:30 A.M. The victim also noticed that a porcelain frog on her front porch had been broken.
The Angela Street burglary has several things in common with the burglaries committed by the serial thief:
–Angela Street is behind Galveston Lane, where the burglar has entered some homes multiple times.
–The burglar struck in the early morning hours.
–The Angela Street burglar entered the home while the resident was present. Previous victims have encountered the burglar in their homes.
–The burglar stole an IPhone from the Angela Street home. The Grave Yard Burglar stole IPhones and other Apple-brand electronic products from other homes, according to John Martini, whose compound on Galveston Lane contains two homes that have been hit multiple times.
–From what police are reporting, the culprit did not leave fingerprints at the Angela Street home. A homeowner’s security video of the serial burglar at a previous burglary shows the culprit putting gloves on before entering the house.
–Police aren’t sure whether the Angela Street resident locked her door before going to sleep–but the serial burglar usually–but not always-gains entry through unlocked doors or windows.
The police chief told KonkLife that he has put more police presence in the streets around the cemetery in recent months, including foot patrols, drive-throughs with police cruisers, and undercover officers. Detectives also have investigated pawn shop receipts and have asked pawn shop owners to keep an eye out for anyone pawning Apple products and laptops.
“My neighbor has confirmed that she has been definitely been seeing more police activity especially in Bill Butler Park,” Martini said. The park is just off the cemetery fence and is close to many of the homes hit by the burglar.
Lee also posted an image on the Key West Police Department website that purportedly shows the serial burglar–a thirty-something white male with a light beard and baseball cap–trying to use a credit card stolen from one of the homes.
Lee sent the image to other law enforcement agencies, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and has asked the public to help identify the man in the photo.
Residents in the stricken neighborhoods have expressed confidence in Lee and his detectives, but that could change if the burglar, or a criminal with worse intentions, continues to enter homes where women live alone.
It’s not that police can’t arrest burglars. The department made 34 burglary arrests this year, Crean said.
Lee told KonkLife last week that he’s just as frustrated as homeowners.
“We want to catch him as badly as the victims do,” Lee said.
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Someone will write a novel about this event. Then a movie will be made. Key West will gain nationwide publicity. Hopefully there will be no murder involved.