REILY TOWNSHIP, Ohio – A burglar slipped into Holli Morrish’s house while she and her kids were sleeping and stole her car and house keys.
The burglar abandoned the casr on railroad tracks six miles away, but got away with something more dear and valuable to Morrish.
"My cell phone rang about 5 a.m., which kind of startled me," Morrish told WCPO.
Butler County dispatchers were on the line.
"I looked across the room and the key rack was empty, so I immediately knew something was really wrong," she said.
Morrish looked outside and realized her beige Passat was gone.
The whole situation was “bizarre,” she said.
"Two of my children were here - one of my sons actually had some friends here," she said.
Her son had left the back door unlocked by mistake.
"When I got all of the kids off to school, I just couldn’t contain myself. I just finally broke down and cried because I felt extremely invaded.
"I didn’t know what was going on."
Six miles away, Veselka Snelling was leaving for work.
"I saw that there was flashing lights in front of my driveway," Snelling said.
That’s when Snelling spotted the car stuck on the tracks. A policeman was waiting for a tow truck. .
"He had his light shining to a car that was at least two lengths, maybe three lengths out on the railroad tracks," Snelling said.
The burglar had ripped the stereo out of the dash and got away with all of the keys from Morrish’s house.
She got her car back, rekeyed the doors and upgraded the security system.
But there’s still something they can’t fix or replace - her peace of mind.
"Our home is my sanctuary. It's kind of my safe place, and the place where I let my hair down, and it's pretty unsettling to think that someone can just walk into your house and destroy your piece of mind,” Morrish said.
The burglar is still on the loose. If you have any information, call the Butler County Sheriff's Office at 513-785-1000.
