Occupied Home Burglarized Overnight; Prowlers Also Reported
Published on February 21, 2023
Palo Alto, CA – An unknown suspect entered an occupied residence via an unsecured rear door at 2 a.m. Monday morning. Police are investigating to see if this is connected to multiple other prowling incidents that had occurred overnight on early Sunday morning, as well as to another similar burglary from earlier in February.
On Monday, February 20, 2023, at about 7:18 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting a residential burglary that had occurred at 2 a.m. in the 1300 block of Forest Avenue. The victim, a woman in her forties, reported that she had been at home with her husband and young child at the time of the crime.
The victim said she had noticed that afternoon that four handbags that had been on the dining room table were missing. She reviewed interior surveillance footage and saw that an unknown suspect had entered the home’s back door (which had not been locking properly recently) at 2 a.m. The suspect walked to the dining room, picked up the four handbags (with a combined value in excess of $10,000), and left through the back door.
While the victim provided police with the surveillance footage, the only discernible description of the suspect appears to be a male wearing a light-colored sweatshirt.
Detectives are exploring the possibility that this burglary may be connected to multiple prowling cases that were reported to police on Sunday, February 19. In those four cases, residents noticed the suspect on video footage hours after the incidents occurred. Those cases all occurred between 3 and 4 a.m. on February 19 at occupied residences in the 3800 block of Nathan Way, the 3500 block of Ross Road, and the 700 block of Christine Drive. The unknown suspect appears to enter side and rear yards via unlocked gates, then try to open doors of the homes. While entry may have been made into a garage via a side yard door in one case, no items were reported stolen in any of the four incidents. A surveillance image of the suspect taken at a residence on Christine Drive appears above. The suspect may be associated with a black four-door sedan.
Detectives are actively investigating these incidents, and officers have increased patrols in residential neighborhoods overnight.
Residential burglaries of occupied homes are rare in Palo Alto; while the most recent one occurred earlier this month (read our news release from February 9 for that case; detectives are investigating to see if this is connected), the last one before that occurred in November 2022 but an arrest was made in that event the same day. Most residential burglars commit their crimes during the day, when homes are more likely to be unoccupied and the chance of a confrontation with a resident are correspondingly reduced. If you have a side yard gate, police recommend putting a lock on it to prevent easy unauthorized access to your property. Police also recommend securing all windows and doors overnight. If you choose to hide a key outside your residence in the event you ever get locked out, recognize that involves a potential risk; as an alternative, consider leaving a spare house key with a trusted neighbor. For more crime prevention tips to help you stay safe, visit our Crime Prevention Tips page.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.