Crime & Safety

$71K in Jewelry Stolen During Downers Grove Home Burglary: Police Blotter

A wife found 45 pieces of jewelry gone on the same day that her husband helped a woman outside their home looking for a missing cat, according to police.

A Downers Grove family reported $70,950 in jewelry stolen after a woman used an apparent ruse to enter their home, police said.

The list of 45 different pieces of jewelry includes an 18-karat gold Rolex watch worth $33,350, and a 14-karat gold wedding band worth $800. The incident occurred between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at an undisclosed address on Candlewood Drive, according to a police report.

The ruse involved a story about a missing cat that the woman claimed ran into the family's yard around the side of the house. The woman rang the family's doorbell, and the man who answered it said she was hysterical and crying, the report said.

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The woman was described as being in her forties with brown hair, a dark complexion and possibly of Asian or Mexican descent, according to police. The man could not provide a description of her clothing. The man thought there might have been a tan or brown vehicle parked at the end of the block during the incident, but he had no further details about it.

The man was on the phone with his wife when the woman rang his doorbell. After the woman said she needed help finding her cat, he hung up with the wife and accompanied the woman to the back of the house to begin the search. During their 15 minutes outside, the woman also spoke with a neighbor about the missing cat.

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The man came back inside and the woman left, but then she returned a short time later. She said she still had not found her cat, so the man offered to take her name and number in case he found it. He invited her inside the house and she stood at the entry, the report said.

The woman wrote a name and number, which were redacted in the police report, and left in an unknown direction.

When the wife returned at 3:45 p.m., she asked about the woman. He told her about the missing cat and the search.

"(The wife) asked him if he let the woman inside the house and he said that he did, in order for her to write her contact information down," the report said. "(The wife) said she had a 'bad feeling' about the whole story and went upstairs to their bedroom around 1800 hrs. At that time, (she) observed the contents of her jewelry boxes in disarray."

After speaking with the husband and wife, the officer canvassed the area. The details of her search were redacted in the police report provided to media. The report notes that the Downer Grove Police Investigations Unit will do a follow-up on the incident.

Two other ruse-entry burglaries reported in the village so far this year include a March 5 incident on the 3500 block of Saratoga Avenue and a June 17 incident on the 1200 block of Hawkins Avenue.

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Police Blotter information is provided by local law enforcement agencies. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.


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