West Seattle Crime Watch: Burglary, via the cat door

| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news

Out of the WSB inbox, from Melissa:

We just wanted to alert our neighbors that we had our house broken into on Thursday 10/16 during the day. We live around Thistle and 17th Ave SW in Highland Park (map). They came in through the cat door and stole small items. The next day, there was also some odd behavior when a white mini-van with 2 guys in it lurked in front of our house. They stared at the house for awhile and then came up to the front door and knocked. I did not answer the door but made a police report of suspicious behavior. I just want everyone to be aware, alert and to look out for each other!

We asked Melissa a followup question about the cat-door method of entry – she said the burglar(s) reached through it to unlock the main door, either by hand, or with a tool. SUNDAY AFTERNOON ADDENDUM: A few hours after we published this, Gretchen e-mailed the following:

I just read about the cat door burglary. The author mentioned a white minivan with two guys driving slowly in the neighborhood. I was putting my daughter in the car the other day and a white minivan with two guys stopped to ask me if there were any rentals in the area. He said, “I’m looking to rent in the area.” I was distracted and said, sure, look for the signs. He asked me to clarify which blocks. I told him to drive around. They went on but I got a weird feeling. I was thinking they were into real estate since we have had real estate investors roam door to door in the past. These guys were young though, maybe late 20’s. Anyway, after reading the other note, I thought it was worth mentioning. I live on 30th between Webster and
Othello (map).

Irukandji October 19, 2008 (9:27 am)

For those concerned about the possible reach-through to unlock, there are doorknob devices meant to keep kids from being able to turn the knob.

They might be helpful if you have an easily frustrated potential intruder. The device encases the knob effectively making it impossible to get in to the twist-lock.

mellaw6565 October 19, 2008 (6:15 pm)

Would this classify the intruders as “cat burglers”?

mike October 20, 2008 (1:12 pm)

re the guy asking about rentals:

I had a guy walk into my “townhome alley” which is a dead end. He walked far enough to where I was visible and seemed to realize it was a dead end and I was there. He asked if there were any rentals. This confused me because generally you look for the signs. Sounds like its the same people… About six foot skinny white guy in 40s, I think he had a goatee or some kind of facial hair.