A horrible homecoming

After a nice visit with Kathy, I got home yesterday evening and within less than 2 hours, the in-laws called to ask if J or I had borrowed their car. They are in Chicago and neighbors had called them to say that the car was missing. We hadn't borrowed it, so it looked like it was stolen. The J's and I drove over to the house (just a couple miles) to meet the sheriff to make the stolen car report, since OnStar wouldn't activate without a police report number and authorization. It occurred to me we should probably check around and what we found was horrifying. The large 5-ft safe recently installed into the wall behind hidden panels was lying on the floor on its side, open, a hole torched and cut right through the safe walls to open it from the inside. All the drawers were out and empty. It looked like a war zone, pieces of wood and debris and metal and wires laying everywhere. The entire alarm system was ripped out of the wall, with just a hole and a bunch of cut wires hanging where it used to be. Poor little J was totally freaked out as he saw J and my reactions in the moment and saw us begin to run through the house to see what else was gone (all the TVs, computer and camera equipment- the usual). He didn't feel safe and I don't blame him. J ended up taking him back home to stay while DH and I spent the night here- with every light on, every door, window and gate locked and his car making a blockade across the driveway, blocking both the garage door and the back gate. We got maybe a few hours sleep after all the neighbors (who are also the best friends and the supervising interior designer for their remodel and the alarm rep) left and the sheriff finished taking the report. I was glad they came. They each had something to tell the deputy, what they had seen, when the car went missing, who was here. The deputy said it was obviously a professional job, and they had good inside info (that they were gone, where the safe was, etc.) We got a knock on the door that the car was found, just several blocks away, parked and in perfect condition. The deputy said sometimes they'll do that as a "tell" to see if gets reported stolen or if they are still undetected and can keep coming back, especially if they know the owners are out of town. I don't know why I'm unloading this here, except that here is where the "party" is and I don't want to bring down the fun thread. J said he'll never forget the look on my face as we found the safe- said it was a combination of horror sadness. That's pretty much what I was feeling. Still am. Today, we hang out here and wait for the CSi team to come today to do the actual investigation (last night was just taking the initial report and opening the case), also the alarm company, the safe company, the closet company (closets totally destroyed), the insurance company, someone to re-key everything, including the car (thiefs still have the key). FIL is flying back on the first flight from Chicago and DH will pick him up at LAX this afternoon. He needs to make a closer inspection of what's missing and start making a detailed list of items and finding receipts and appraisals. I can post this because for some reason, they left MIL's computer system here and intact, though they took FIL's and the laptop. We don't really care about the TVs and electronics...they're plastic and wires and mean nothing. But the safe- it was such a violent job and had 3 lifetimes of family jewelry in it- MIL's, her mother's, FIL's mother's. That stuff is irreplaceable...not to mention the sense of security in their home. :(