New Jersey Sisters, Ages 11 & 13, Wake Up To Find Burglars Inside Tenafly Home
TENAFLY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – Police are searching for the suspects who broke into a New Jersey home while two sisters, ages 11 and 13, were asleep inside.
It happened Saturday morning in Tenafly.
Police said two men entered the house through a second-floor master bedroom window. A third man was seen on surveillance video ringing the doorbell while holding a ball from the family's yard.
The girls' mother, Jennifer Yanowitz, told CBS2's Clark Fouraker she had just stepped outside before their home alarm sounded.
"My older daughter heard the alarm go off and walked into the bedroom, and that's where she found the men," she said. "At that point, she just ran and she locked herself in her room and she dialed 911. And then she heard her younger sister stirring and starting to walk into the hall, and she went out and she grabbed her, and they locked themselves in the closet."
The 911 operator stayed on the line until police arrived.
"They were utterly hysterical – hugging each other in the fetal position, terrified," said Yanowitz. "There's no words for that kind of fear."
She also said on a Saturday morning their street is busy and she's amazed that did not deter the burglars.
"We feel very blessed that my daughters are safe and OK, and the fact that she had the wherewithal to know what to do and to not panic," she said.
Yanowitz said the men didn't get away with much, only a couple items that were laying out near the window they used to enter the home.
Police believe the men took off in a black Dodge Magnum with New York license plates.
Anyone with information should call the Tenafly Police Department at 201-568-5100 or email Det. Sgt. Wayne Hall at whall@tenafly.net.