Seven St. Paul homes burglarized in a matter of hours

St. Paul police are looking for the suspects who broke into a number of homes, many of them with the owners still inside. They happened early Saturday morning in the Payne Phalen neighborhood and the Haden Heights neighborhood.

Police don’t know yet whether it’s a single person or a team, but they do know it was bold and frightening for the homeowners.

Captured on home security cameras, the burglar broke into a total of seven homes, four of which are along Maryland Avenue.

Aimee Hubbard was home alone with her dogs when she heard the rear door to the house slam shut.

“I looked around and like our whole main floor was pulled apart, like they had gone through everything, there was like stuff all over our floors and all of our drawers had been pulled open, and even like kitchen cabinets had been opened and things like that,” said Hubbard.

Two more homes were burglarized along Hyacinth Avenue East. Police say the burglar was particularly bold.

“Some of these cases involved homeowners waking up to somebody in their bedroom going through their night stand next to their bed,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster of St. Paul Police. “Completely unnerving.”  

So far, detectives have not been able to identity the burglar, which is why they are asking for help. One of the things police are asking neighbors to do is to check their security cameras, even if their home was not burglarized so they can come up with any suspects involved.

“We don’t know if it’s one or possibly more because some of the descriptions are varying slightly as far as build of the suspects or height and age,” said Sgt. Ernster.

Police want neighbors to talk to each other and keep their homes locked.

“So, we’re trying to be a little more prepared in case it ever happens again, but yea it was bad luck it felt like,” said Hubbard.

St. Paul police are holding a burglary prevention workshop Saturday morning. It will run from 9 a.m. to noon at the St. Paul Western District headquarters on Hamline Avenue.