Her Charlotte home was burglarized at least twice in recent weeks. Now she might leave.
When a west Charlotte woman first moved to Capitol Drive eight years ago, life in the neighborhood not far from the airport was relatively quiet.
It’s a place where older people trusted neighbors they never met to help take them the store and where people rarely locked their doors, she said.
But as the surrounding area saw major development in the last few years, that feeling of safety and trust has dwindled, she said, and now she’s considering leaving the city altogether after her home was burglarized at least twice in the last couple of weeks, leaving her frustrated and scared for her safety.
“Why do you keep coming back? Once or twice, three, four times,” she wondered about the burglar or burglars. “Have you been here before? Why do you feel so comfortable in this area?”
The 32-year-old Winston-Salem native, who asked to be anonymous for fear of her safety, has caught at least two burglaries at her home on camera — although she said she’s worried there have been others she’s not aware of.
She’s had thousands of dollars of jewelry stolen. A backpack. An Xbox and controller. Plus several smartphones, an iPad, cameras, and other valuable items. She isn’t sure what they could possibly steal next, since they’ve taken almost everything of value, she said, but the fear has traumatized her.
“I’ve been on leave due to anxiety and depression, and then this doesn’t help,” she said. “Yesterday was literally my second day working, going back to work, and this happens right when I’m about to go on lunch break.”
First burglary
The first burglary was captured on video on Dec. 2, she said, while she was hours away visiting Williamsburg, Virginia.
She saw a notification on her phone that someone was in her home, and called 911. But she kept getting the dispatcher for Williamsburg, she said, and couldn’t get through to Charlotte. The dispatcher recommended she call a friend in Charlotte and have them call the police.
“I got my friend to call 911 and she kind of had a hard time too,” the woman said.
She said her friend was told that because the 32-year-old wasn’t at home, the police may not respond. The 32-year-old woman was finally given an officer’s number and she called him and asked him to check her home.
“I just at least wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t come back, because I wasn’t able to just turn around at that point and drive,” she said.
After rushing back home from Virginia to meet with police, she said, she met with police while they processed the scene, taking fingerprints and shoe prints. She said the police didn’t find any matches.
She said she isn’t sure if there was more than one burglar, but when reviewing her video footage, she caught a glimpse of the side of one man’s face when slowing the footage down.
She said she doesn’t know the man in the footage she’s captured, but she suspects he might live in the neighborhood.
The burglar didn’t dump things all over her home to steal them, she said, they were methodical and took their time. They looked through all of her jewelry, she said, and only took the very valuable pieces.
The break-ins have only occurred when she’s not home, she said. She’s had a feeling that, perhaps, the burglar broke into her home previously without stealing anything. In one room, she said, she came home and found the light had been turned on — something she would not have done.
And a piece of wood meant to help keep the window from being opened from the outside, which other similar units nearby also have, was missing.
“This has brought more anxiety,” she said. “I just feel helpless.”
She said she bought and installed two additional cameras, hoping it would help deter anyone from breaking in again.
Second burglary
But just a couple of weeks later, on Dec. 17, she caught footage of a person breaking in again. She said she isn’t sure if it’s the same person or people from the first burglary, and she didn’t know this man either, but this time she got a clearer view of the man’s face and outfit.
The footage caught the man climbing through the window, destroying her blinds in the process, and looking directly into the camera after getting inside. He had broken in not long after she left for work.
He wore a hoodie, blue Crocs, and has a mustache and goatee, she said. He climbed into her home, she said, using her HVAC system that sits just below a large living room window. His footprints are still all over the top of the system.
After the second break-in, the woman called the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department again. Except this time, she said, the process was much shorter.
She was asked to sign a form stating she didn’t let anyone in and didn’t know the person who broke into her home. And the burglar wore gloves this time, she said, and didn’t leave any fingerprints.
The lack of a solution from police and her landlords is frustrating, she said. She’s made requests for new locks for the home and screens for her unit, but the landlord hasn’t responded.
There are similar properties nearby, as well as the other unit at her duplex, which all have wire mesh screens over their windows. Hers is the only one without them.
Meanwhile, in addition to her new cameras, she’s tried to fortify her windows.
The one the burglar climbed into was broken and the latches don’t work properly, so a neighbor screwed it shut so they can’t be opened again. She’s put objects in other windows so they can’t be lifted up, and placed a small metal grate over another window to act as a deterrent.
But she shouldn’t have to take these kinds of precautions, she said. She shouldn’t have to miss work to protect her belongings, or be made to feel unsafe in her own home.
And if she doesn’t get the locks changed and screens for her windows, she’ll likely leave the home, and possibly Charlotte, entirely. She has a home in Winston-Salem she’s been fixing up and would consider moving back there, she said.
But even then, she said, leaving Charlotte won’t fix the issue. She wants to see some kind of resolution.
“I’m a Scorpio, so I have that revenge in me,” she said. “So I want to either catch you, or I want to make sure that you get locked up. I want to see justice.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
