Police are searching for the suspects responsible for multiple Monterey Park home burglaries.
Two victims believe the thieves cased their homes and waited for them to leave before striking.
In one of these instances, the suspects stole an elderly couple’s entire retirement savings, amounting to decades of hard work, gone in a matter of minutes.
KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff spoke with the couple’s daughter who doesn’t want to identify herself or her family for fear of their safety – but she wants the public to see the intrusion in case anyone can identify the suspects.
The daughter believes three thieves targeted her childhood home near Findlay Avenue and Floral Drive in broad daylight around 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, after everyone had left for work.
“They climbed over our brick wall into the backyard,” explained the daughter. “They started cutting the metal door. They made a hole and that’s how they entered the home.”
Once inside, the thieves forcibly opened a locked door and ransacked the bedroom.
They found a heavy safe with valuables and cash including savings that woman’s parents had been setting aside for retirement.
“My parents are such hardworking people and you know, they’re so lowkey. They’re at retirement age, but now they’re just coming to terms, they might not ever be able to retire.”
Their neighbor’s Ring camera captured the thieves reversing a white Subaru Ascent over the curb, onto the front lawn, and struggling to load the roughly 150-pound safe into the trunk.
Another caught-on-tape burglary happened a few days earlier about three miles away.
The victim, Raymond Yao, told KTLA he was out to lunch when he noticed on his puppy cam, two masked men rummaging through his house.
Yao said they ran off with a designer purse, cash, and his wife’s wedding ring.
“That day was one of the days of the heatwave,” said Yao. “So, I believe to keep out for in the future is someone wearing hoodies and baggy clothes when it’s 100-plus degrees outside.”
The two alleged robbers also entered Yao’s residence through a sliding back door.
“The worst after-effects aren’t the material goods, because those can be replaced, but the sense of safety, peace of mind, and we kind of live with a sense of paranoia, what if it happens again?” asked Yao. “Is it going to happen again?”
The elderly couple’s daughter seems to share Yao’s concerns.
“We’ve just been thinking about it nonstop,” she said. “How do we get these guys? How do we bring justice? How do we not let this happen to other people?”
Monterey Park Police have a plethora of surveillance footage collected from both scenes, but so far do not have updates on either of these cases.
Anyone who may have been driving by, or who has additional information is encouraged to contact the Monterey Park Police Department.