Crime Time

Burglars steal music box holding ashes of couple's baby

Burglars in Peoria, Ariz., have stolen a wooden music box containing the ashes of a couple's 5-month-old son who died in 1996, and they hope their pleas to have the box returned area answered.

The box was among items, including electronics, that were stolen during the daytime burglary of the home. The family has said that if the box is returned they don't care if the burglars keep the other items.

Let's hope they get it back.

-- Lance Murray

Naked burglar caught on video; he cooked and bathed in home

He was a burglar in the buff.

Police in Slidell, La., say that a naked man broke into a house where he cooked a meal and showered before leaving. The homeowner was away visiting her son.

A surveillance video system captured images of the naked man and police hope it will lead to an arrest. I'll leave it up to you ask, "were there any distinguishing features?"

-- Lance Murray

Burglar says he's sorry, but gets arrested anyway

OK, so he said he's sorry. But, that didn't stop a 35-year-old man from getting arrested for burglary.

Seems the man had returned to the scene of the crime, rang the doorbell and apologized to the homeowner for having burgled the house earlier. Then he ran off.

The homeowner notified police, who nabbed the burglar-with-a-conscience.

He's in jail on a bail of $60,000.

-- Lance Murray

Returning to the scene of the crime

Police in North Richland Hills caught a burglary suspect early Saturday the easy way: They waited for him to come back to the scene.

Stunned officers arrested a 20-year-old Saginaw man in a Super Wal-Mart parking lot on suspicion of burglary of a vehicle just as they were taking information from the woman who had had her purse stolen.

"The officers looked up and there was the car that matched the license plate description of the one they were given by witnesses," North Richland Hills investigator Keith Bauman said Monday. "It had to be just minutes from the time the purse was taken, and the suspect returned to the parking lot."

Police identified the suspect as Danten Hallman (right).

Staff Writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. reports.

Police: While family's away, burglar makes himself at home

Make yourself at home.

That's exactly what a man did in Cincinnati after he broke into a four-bedroom home while the family was on vacation, police said. They said he watched TV, slept in the master bedroom, used the computer and drove one of the family's cars.

He's under arrest.

-- Lance Murray

Trophy Club cops slam the door on teen auto burglary ring

Police in Trophy Club say a group of eight teenage car burglars is responsible for more than 60 vehicle burglaries and the theft of more than 100 items.

Trophy Club Police Chief Scott Kniffen says that information gathered in investigating one of the burglaries prompted one of his patrol officers to realized that he had stopped the suspects' vehicle and had gotten their names, staff writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. reported.

That break has led to arrests in the case. Among the eight teens arrested are David Faram and John Duncan of Roanoke and Justin Currie of Lewisville -- pictured above -- all 17 years old.  Kniffen didn't identify the other teens' names or ages.

-- Lance Murray

Hungry burglar eats homeowner's steak; leaves messy kitchen

There are usually some kind of sounds associated with a home burglary -- the breaking of glass or the busting of a door, for instance.

But the sizzle of a steak?

That's apparently all that was taken from a home in Peoria, Ill., where a homeowner reported to police that all a burglar did was cook and eat the $6 steak he'd left out to thaw.

And, the hungry burglar didn't even do the dishes!

-- Lance Murray

Cops nab burglar after posting his face on Facebook

Arrest by Facebook. Now there's a crime-fighting tool!

Police in New Zealand say they have made their first arrest using Facebook, the popular social networking Web site. The cops posted a security camera image of a burglar trying to break into a safe on the Web site.

Lo and behold, he was identified by Facebook regulars and was in custody within a day.

-- Lance Murray

11-year-old among 5 arrested for gun shop heist

An 11-year-old boy was among a group of five -- the other four of them teenagers -- arrested for the an attempted gun shop heist in Collingdale, a Philadelphia suburb.

The boy's mother told police he was at home in bed when they called his house.

The two adults and three juveniles arrived at the shop by public transit, dismantled the external alarm system and threw a boulder through a window to gain access to the store. They  used school bags to cart off 14 semiautomatic handguns, 250 rounds of ammunition and the store owner's loaded .38-caliber revolver.

The group didn't have a getaway car and were apprehended pretty quickly, police said. The 11-year-old was caught on a transit bus when it was caught up in a traffic jam caused by the police probe into the gun shop break-in.

-- Lance Murray

Small talk lands East Texas man in jail

An East Texas homeowner distracted a suspected burglar by striking up a conversation with him until police arrived to detain the man, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported.

The homeowner was called to his home in Winnsboro by his wife and was able to stop the man, who had already left the home and was driving away, the newspaper reported.

Police later arrived and arrested the 25-year-old suspect, who the homeowner apparently knew, according to the Telegraph.

Read the full story here.

--Andrew Chavez