I had a break-in at my house yesterday. I live on an upscale street with million dollar houses next door, so break-ins are common. I just did not think I would be targeted because the house is relatively old and run down. This has already been reported to the police.

Based on the evidence left behind I can suggest the following order of events at around 4 am. I shall assume there's more than one burglar even though I have no evidence to support such. The burglars first try to get in through the basement window at the back side of the house (the exterior screen was left removed). Then they go into the mud room (veranda) which is usually unlocked because there isn't really anything valuable. There is another door between the mud room and the house and this was pretty easy to break into: they cut the insulating strip around the opening of the door, slided a card into the opening at the lock and pried the door open. Stupid door - no deadbolt. Once in the house, they got spooked off by something, maybe the cat. We were asleep in the house. Perhaps they heard me moan in my sleep. So they leave the house and proceed to the car in the driveway. They get it unlocked. It's possible they have a master key for toyota corollas.

The car was left messed up inside. Gym bags were turned inside out, garbage scattered around. Stolen items include my Nokia770, my bluetooth GPS unit, two cell phone chargers, an inverter.

Oh and the bastards took a pair of fake Ugg boots from the mud room.

All day yesterday was spent replacing the front door lock, the side door lock (we suspect they made a copy of the keys) and nailing/barricading the back door. The cop recommended we leave exterior lights on overnight and I will definitely do so from now on. Also the cop advised to clear the foliage/branches from the front lawn to increase visibility for patrol cars. I spent a whole lot of time today on that.

We are still kinda shocked this happened. At least the damage was minor.