In an incident that seems to have followed the pattern of recent vehicle thefts in Darien and elsewhere, a BMW parked outside a house on Point O’Woods Road South was stolen, then found days later in Waterbury.
Darien police described the incident with this account:
Sometime overnight, between 5:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 17 and 8:42 a.m., the next day, someone entered two cars parked outside the house at 12 Point O’Woods Road.
The next morning, the owner found one of the cars — a gray 2011 Lexus RX — had been entered, although there were no signs of forced entry. The contents of the glove box were strewn over the front passenger seat. It didn’t appear that anything had been taken, the owner said.
The owner told police he thought the vehicles had been locked.
What happened to the BMW — a green 2007 5-series — was worse. It wasn’t there.
The vehicle was missing until Wednesday, when police in that city informed Darien police that they had found it there.
Point O’Woods Road South is a street well away from major roads in Darien. It has one outlet.
Typical Pattern
Police in Darien and elsewhere have said that some teenagers, often from urban areas like Waterbury, have gone to suburban towns where cars are often left unlocked overnight, then stolen from the cars and even stolen the cars themselves when they find keys left inside.
The cars are driven back to the cities, where they’re driven around for days, then left abandoned. Hardly any vehicles that are locked outside a house overnight ever get broken into.
Break-ins of locked cars tend to happen in parking lots where thieves have a good idea that the owner won’t return for a while, and it tends to happen when tempting items (like purses, brief cases, laptops or sometimes shopping bags) are left in view, on the seats or on the floor.
On the back of Darien Police patrol cars: “Lock your car, every time, everywhere.”