We changed our security system - used to use motion detectors but now only use the “panic buttons” which are scattered throughout the house. If you can get to one of those buttons and press it, the security company calls the house. If no one answers or if someone does not give them the correct password upon answering, they automatically send the police over to the house to check things out.
Not sure how helpful that would turn out to be and I hope to never have to find out.
Almost 25 yrs ago, we lived in a working class neighborhood that was racially diverse, though predominantly white. The small bungalows in the subdivision were built for returning WWII veterans. Many had not been well maintained over the intervening years so, unfortunately, the neighborhood was on the decline. One day, we woke to find the house catty-corner to us surrounded by police cars and a gathering of curious neighbors. For many years, this house had been occupied by a single, middle-aged, childless woman who lived quietly and kept largely to herself (it turns out, she had actually grown up in the home, and had inherited it from her deceased parents).
In any case, we learned she had been murdered the evening prior by a man hired to work for the tree service she had contracted. I recalled having seen the tree service working on a maple in her front yard on the day prior, and had seen her offering water to the men, and casually talking with them for a few minutes as she watched them work. Apparently, this guy hired by the tree service returned to her house later in the evening, after work had finished for the day. I don’t recall if the investigation revealed that she’d let him inside voluntarily after he’d presented some pretext, or if he forced his way in, but, robbery was the apparent motive. In the course of things, however, he ended up bludgeoning her to death, and leaving with very little to show for it.
It was an extremely unsettling feeling, knowing that someone had been victim to such violence only feet away from our own home. I assume she was targeted because she obviously lived alone, but I couldn’t help but grow queasy at the idea that it could have been me, alone with my two small children.
Ironically, even though violent crime in the area wasn’t very prevalent, another murder had occurred on the same night, and on a street that ran behind our house. Domestic violence. In both cases, the victims were white, and their perpetrators white also. Most murders are committed intraracially, according to statistics. And socio-economics plays a large role in most murders.
^^
There was a similar murder to an older woman who lived alone in Florida. A worker did the same thing, came back at night, killed her, rummaged thru her wallet, and stole her car. What helped catch him was he left his bloody shoe mark on the floor and that shoeprint was unique. He was tracked to another state, where he was found with her car.
@mom2collegekids - here’s a link that mentions the dog. (Was starting to think I was going crazy, lol). I have not seen any mention of the dog since - alive or dead…
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/21/us/washington-mansion-fire-slayings-savopoulos-family/
I am not sure if the story that she was surprised and overcome at the back entrance to the house after returning from walking the dog is fact or guesswork.
Did any of you read In Cold Blood? Similar horror inflicted on an affluent family. I read that book as a teen, and it absolutely traumatized me.
I hate the thought of the terror inflicted on these people over a period of time before they were killed. Only someone completely evil could do this. Just makes you shudder.
Yes, I wonder if they killed the dog or just kept it outside.
Well trained protection dogs can also be a deterrent…not perfect, but better than nothing.
@mom2collegekids must watch the same forensics shows I do. 
This is interesting…this may suggest that someone closer to the family is involved. Some former worker would not know this, and it seems too coincidental to just be random…
Police believe the family and the housekeeper were held captive for possibly the day before they were killed. They also believe that it may be more than one person who did this crime. Because the perpetrator or perpetrators were able to position themselves not to show up in the sophisticated surveillance system in the home, may have had prior knowledge of the house. They believe whoever they were had knowledge of the family’s habits and of their expensive security system.
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There was nothing out of the ordinary on the family’s security footage. Whoever did this to the family were able to skirt getting picked up by the cameras at the house. With no sign of forced entry and no sign of a robbery, this doesn’t appear to be random. Police have not released any theories of a motive as of yet.
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I wonder if there are any videos showing the mom coming home in her car that afternoon. I wonder if they were in her car
@epiphany >>@mom2collegekids must watch the same forensics shows I do. >>
lol…actually, I was stuck in a hotel room one day and there was a marathon of forensics shows on…that particular episode fascinated me.
there was another one that I remember…a worker working behind these homes noticed a husband’s work patterns and came into the home and murdered the wife or daughter?? And something to do with stealing underwear or something? I think he was caught when someone else’s underwear was stolen? my memory is fading…
@rockvillemom and @mom2collegekids: The video showing the fellow running, that only shows his back, was taken near the place the family’s Porsche was found burned out. It was not taken at the house.
The Petit murder has haunted me. And this one will too.
There was a murder in my general area a few years back where a 14 yo girl, Kelli O’Laughlin, came home from school and was murdered. Her mother arrived home from work and found her. The scumbag took Kelli’s cellphone and sent texts from it to the grieving family. I did not know the family but they belonged to a health club that I belong to and the community was just stunned. This was a " nice" affluent area where there would be no reason to worry. It makes me realize I’ve got to be more vigilant in locking the house when I walk the dog, and more vigilant in using the alarm system.
I live in a nice area and we have neighbors who, even in this day and age, don’t lock their houses. I think they’re nuts.
One thing that always has stick with me is that you never advertise how affluent you are. My dad was part of a private company that got bought by a public company for $xx million - at the time, this was a big deal noted in the local newspapers. So it was evident that the owners, all self-made men, now had a lot of money. One of the owners took his wife on some lavish around the world cruise and it was written up in the society column. The other owners were furious that he had discussed this lavish expense publicly - they felt that this guy had basically just a) announced he would be out of town for a month, leaving an empty house and b) was putting his children/grandchildren at kidnapping risk (and by extension, their children/grandchildren) since now any scumbag reading the paper knew that the x, y and z families were loaded.
One of these families did indeed come across trouble - they went shopping on Xmas eve, came home, pulled Into their garage (nice neighborhood, the whole works) and found burglars with guns who tied them up but thankfully were satisfied with just the “stuff.”
We often pay for pizza delivery with a credit card and I can’t remember the last time we had to sign for it. It just doesn’t happen that often anymore, especially, I would think, if it’s a place you order from often. Businesses don’t need signatures like they used to.
There was a case in Philly a few years ago where an exterminator was working in the basement of a house, got into an argument with the owner, strangled and burned her. Seems unpremeditated and completely scary.
Yes, staying under the radar about wealth and assets has always seemed prudent to us. Having enough to be comfortable and living below our means. I can see why folks who are VERY wealthy would have to be extra cautious.
My Ds went to school with a couple of girls who had private security guards because they were children or grandchildren of well known and extremely wealthy individuals. I am already a pathological worrier; I can’t imagine knowing my kids are constantly living in the shadow of potential kidnapping because of MY financial status. I’d be a total nutcase.
I still have to sign for CC pizza deliveries.
As for people not advertising their wealth. I grew up with a family who was insanely wealthy…extensive landowners, etc. Old money. They were neighbors. The dad told my parents that they were afraid that their kids would be kidnapped, so they lived in a regular, but nice home, and drove normal cars …station wagon and a truck.
@scholarme >>
There was a case in Philly a few years ago where an exterminator was working in the basement of a house, got into an argument with the owner, strangled and burned her. Seems unpremeditated and completely scary.
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FRIENDS OF Dr. Melissa Ketunuti, the pediatrician strangled, bound and set ablaze in her Southwest Center City basement in January 2013, sobbed in court yesterday when a jury granted them the only comfort they could hope for - finding her killer, Jason Smith, guilty of first-degree murder.
Smith, 39, a father of two, was immediately sentenced by Judge Sandy L.V. Byrd to life in prison without parole for Ketunuti’s murder, plus 17 to 34 years for additional convictions of arson, abuse of a corpse, possession of an instrument of crime and risking catastrophe.
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When he confessed to the crime, he said that she had “disrespected” him and belittled him.
Seriously, this is a person who was someone who was going to “go off” on anyone who “touched” his hot buttons.
An expat colleague of mine narrowly missed a home invasion. He and wife came home late one evening (their teenage daughters were thankfully away at a sleepover that night) to find one dog dead and their other dog dying. Thieves had thrown poisoned meat into the yard.
While the thieves were waiting for my friend’s dogs to die, the thieves stormed the house next door, and captured & bound the family members (parents & their young children) and held knives to their throat. Then the thieves proceeded to go thru the house looking for money & jewelry.
The father managed to escape and got to a neighbor’s house to call for help. When help arrived, the thieves were scared off and left the family members physically unhurt.