Exclusive: Armed With New Video, NYPD Hunting Serial Burglar In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A serial burglar is targeting a Brooklyn neighborhood, breaking in through windows at all hours of the day and night.
The spree happened in Canarsie, and CBS2's Jessica Moore spoke exclusively with one of the victims on Wednesday.
When Annie D. Williams woke up the morning of Jan. 4, she knew something was wrong.
"I felt a breeze at the window, so I went to ask my daughter if she opened the window," Williams said.
A quick scan of her apartment revealed missing credit cards, money, and keys, all taken from her purse in the middle of the night.
"I could've been killed. I could've been killed in my bed. My daughter was asleep, so I'm still traumatized about it," Williams said.
Little did she know, her house was the first of five to be targeted in less than two weeks. Each time, the man got in through a window, stole cash and credit cards and took off, police said.
"Wow. That's kind of brazen," Canarsie resident Ian Willis said. "It kind of gives me a little bit of anxiety, because my mom does live in this neighborhood."
Williams called police, and then her credit card companies, which confirmed more than $1,300 in fraudulent charges -- and it gets worse.
"I went outside to look for my car and my car was gone," Williams said.
Within two hours, police found her car abandoned five blocks away.
Police said the thief hit again 10 days after the first break-in, near East 103rd Street and Avenue N. Surveillance video shows the man later trying to use a stolen JC Penny credit card that police said he lifted from one of the houses.
"Oh my God, I want to wring his neck. That looks like somebody's son. He doesn't look like a vagabond," Williams said.
Williams said she thinks the stolen card was hers, but said it doesn't matter. He may have her money, but she has her life.
