It's been happening in several residential developments along Old Baltimore Pike in Newark. Investigators do have one big clue: at least one of the break-ins was caught on camera.
The security camera over Dawn Sheehan's driveway was triggered just before 1:00 a.m. Tuesday.
The video recording shows a man, dressed in light-colored clothing, jimmying open the lock on her car, getting inside and rummaging through her glove box. He tucks Sheehan's iPod into his pocket.
But the brazen thief doesn't stop there. He checks out Sheehan's son's car using a flashlight, then gets back into her car through the passenger door. He sorts through some papers and takes a pair of Coach sunglasses before casually strolling away.
"Took his time, went through everything," Sheehan told Action News. "I woke up in the morning, went to go to work and my papers were on the seat and everything was gone."
New Castle County police are now wondering whether that thief is also responsible for eight other car break-ins that occurred early Friday morning in Sheehan's Piermont Woods Development and two other developments: Christiana Crossing and Beechers Lot.
All are close to each other along Old Baltimore Pike.
Lorraine DiVirgilis's husband's truck was also broken into Tuesday morning and his wallet was stolen. And then Thursday night, someone took apart the dashboard and removed the stereo.
But DiVirgilis thinks her neighbors coming home late scared off the would-be thieves, because the components were left in a plastic bag behind the truck.
"They bagged it up so they could come back for it," she said. "But we were in the window watching so they didn't get to take the bags with them. They left it for us."
Deanna McKeehan didn't know until Friday morning that the window on her daughter's Mustang had been smashed out and left on the front lawn.
"It was like 2:00 in the morning and the dogs were barking," said McKeehan. "And my husband and daughter got up and they saw people walking. But they didn't see them by the car so they just went back in, not suspecting that they were doing anything." Police are still trying to determine whether all these car break-ins are related.
If you recognize the person in the surveillance video or you have any other information that might be helpful, you're asked to call New Castle County Police at 302-573-2800.
