Having your home broken into is a scary thought that most people aren’t readily dwelling on. With the advancement in home security technology, our homes are only becoming safer places. And there have been many an advancement in the 4,000 years since Egyptians built the first locks out of large wooden bolts. Still, a few years back, there were more than 1.5 million burglaries across the United States. Those are only the ones that were reported, so that number is likely higher.
In the universe of burglaries, it’s safe to say that most of them are smash-and-grab jobs that result in property damage and the loss of some valuables. Rarely is it the story of multi-million dollar jewels and impenetrable safes. Still rarer is the break-in that Nate Roman experienced recently.
Roman had left his home to pick up his 5-year-old son. Upon returning a little later, Roman’s son noticed that the front door was unlocked.
“[My son said], ‘Dad! The door is unlocked.’ Which I have done once every blue moon and didn’t think anything of it. But when we walked in immediately there was a vibe that something was wrong in the house,” Roman said.
He followed that vibe and definitely noticed that something was off. That eerie feeling of an intruder having been in your home washed over him as he inspected the rest of the house. What he found was atypical of home intrusions. He went into his son’s room — which had been a disaster earlier that day — and everything was cleaned, tidied, and vacuumed. The bed was made and all the stuffed animals were neatly arranged. His own bedroom was also cleaned.
“Nothing had been taken, nothing. Other than just being rearranged and cleaned and put away, put straight, that was the biggest thing,” he said.
That’s when he called the police. The police arrived and cleared the house, but given the nature of the intrusion, there wasn’t much to go on. Nothing was broken or stolen and he hadn’t activated the video surveillance on his security system. However, the door sensors indicated that whoever entered their home had to have been there for about 90 minutes.
Every single room had been cleaned except for the kitchen. At first, he thought it may have been a professional cleaning service that had gone to the wrong address, but that didn’t check out when he realized the kitchen had been totally untouched. He did, however, find elaborately crafted origami style roses made from toilet paper adorning a newly opened roll.
Confused by the entire occurrence, he had his locks changed and is being more careful about securing his home. Time has passed and he’s able to chuckle about the incident.
He kept the toilet paper rose as a piece of memorabilia, though we’d wager that he’ll never forget this tale.
