Investigators hope an artist’s sketch will help catch a burglar who has broken into 23 homes in the same neighborhood near Crowley – often with families inside.
Investigators hope an artist’s sketch will help catch a burglar who has broken into 23 homes in the same neighborhood near Crowley.
Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department's Det. Richard Harwell said 16 of the burglaries happened while the families were at home.
“He either knows they're going to be home or he doesn't care,” he said. “And that's what's concerning about it.”
The sketch, drawn from an eyewitness’s description, depicts a slender, young Hispanic male with a goatee and short-cropped black hair.
Harwell said the break-ins in the Carson Ranch subdivision near Interstate 35W and Risinger Road started in February. The most recent incident was Sunday.
Neighbors in the area are on edge. Chelsea Farmer doesn't feel safe in her own home with her family and three-year-old daughter.
"It's weird. I shut all the blinds at night,” she said. “I feel like someone is in the backyard like watching or something."
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Farmer came home last Thursday night, to find her front and back doors open.
"My garage was the only thing closed,” she said.
Neighbors are on high alert.
"Everybody's out watching all the time,” said Chelsea’s father Wes Farmer. “You see people walking around with their cell phones out, people walking their dogs in the morning, afternoons."
Another neighbor, Ramon Ramirez, is spending thousands of dollars to build a big fence around his house. The burglar stole his daughter's bicycle last May.
"My family has to be protected one way or the other,” he said. “I don't want to take no chances."
Adding to the mystery and the fear factor, police said the burglar has always been on foot, suggesting he may live in the general area.
