She was only gone for a few minutes.
Janice, 76, left the door to her Waterdown apartment unlocked last Friday (May 3) to pick up a package from the lobby, just a few meters away.
It took her a moment to meet with the Amazon delivery person.
She went back into her apartment and opened the package without locking her door behind her. Then she sat down to use the computer, with her back facing the door.
At some point, within a 40-minute window, a man entered Janice’s apartment and stole about $1,500 worth of sentimental jewellery and a brand new carry-on bag — without her noticing a thing.
“He didn’t steal everything out of the second drawer, which makes me wonder if I caught him in the act,” she said, adding that the TV was on and could have covered the sound of him leaving.
Janice asked FlamboroughToday to only share her first name out of concerns for her safety.
When she went into her bedroom, her dresser drawers were open, her jewellery box was open and her carry-on bag was missing.
“I definitely was in shock for the first few minutes, until I got everything together and realized that in reality, I had been robbed,” she said.
“I’m glad I’m okay. Had I come home and gone in the bedroom, it might have been a different story,” she said.
While Janice didn’t see the man who robbed her, her apartment wasn’t the only one broken into last Friday, according to Hamilton police.
Police follow string of Waterdown break-ins
Another woman in Janice’s building told police she had her apartment door unlocked and was using the washroom on Friday afternoon. When she came out, there was a man in her living room.
Hamilton police say the man was between 5' and 6' tall and was wearing a yellow high-visibility construction vest. Media relations officer Const. Indy Bharaj said some victims described the man as white while others described him as tanned or Middle-Eastern.
Police say the man handed the woman two Beautitone paint flyers and left.
On the same day, Hamilton police said they received a call from a house on Royal Edge Way in Waterdown, after a resident noticed muddy footprints on their stairs, leading up to the second floor.
The man, who police say they suspect is the same person from Janice’s apartment building, was in the master bedroom, going through their belongings.
This time, the homeowner tried to stop the man and they had a physical altercation, but the suspect was able to flee.
The man was able to enter another home on Victoria Street, which belongs to a woman who asked to only be identified as Laurie. Laurie said her daughter was working from home when she heard someone in the front hallway.
Her daughter called out to the person, thinking her mom was home.
“When she called out to him, he said he was doing a delivery, and she said, ‘Well, what are you delivering? Who do you work for? Why are you in my house?’” Laurie said.
When she went to the front door, she found the man in the high-visibility vest, and the woman's daughter spoke to him for a moment and he gave her two Beautitone paint flyers before fleeing, said police.
Laurie said her family does not believe the man took anything, but he went through their front hall closet and drawers. She said there were car keys near the front door and electronics in the home, but they weren’t taken.
Hamilton police say they are actively investigating the break-ins.
Discarded carry-on found in creek
After the robbery, Janice’s daughter-in-law and grandson heard the culprit had been seen on Riley Street, near the bike path and Borer's Creek.
They found Janice’s carry-on bag dumped in the creek. The non-valuable items he had stolen from her were thrown on the shore, while the bag had been filled with rocks and sunk in the water.
Some of her stolen items were still in the bag and now they are muddy, tangled together and drying out at her son’s house.
“I’m going over in the next few days to go through it all, get it sorted, and unwind it because everything is knotted together,” she said.
Janice said she has noticed different “valuable treasures” missing every day since the robbery.
One of the pieces she is missing the most is her late husband’s wedding ring, which wasn’t with the items left in the creek. She said she isn’t sure whether the jewellery will end up melted down or sold at pawn shops.
Janice said she wants to warn others, after her experience.
“Photograph your items and keep your door locked,” Janice said.
