Boone hit with

wave of auto break-ins
By Melanie Davis
melanie@highcountrymedia.net

Police believe a series of weekend auto break-ins and thefts are connected.

Boone Police Detective David Osbourne said a total of 10 vehicles were broken into between Friday Saturday.

The thief or thieves broke the vehicles’ windows and stole about $6,400 worth of items including purses, wallets, an XM radio receiver, a GPS receiver and an iPod music player.

The first incident occurred sometime between 6 and 7:15 p.m. Friday at the 1200 block of Blowing Rock Road. Three vehicles in the same parking lot were reported to have broken windows and $600 worth of items were stolen.

About an hour later — between 7 and 8:45 p.m. — three vehicles in the same parking lot at the 1600 block on N.C. 105 in Boone were reported to have been broken into via smashed windows. About $2,130 worth of items were taken.

Another vehicle was reportedly burglarized using the same method between 5 p.m. Friday and 12:15 a.m. Saturday on the 1300 block of N.C. 105 — $2,100 worth of items were taken.

The next incident occurred at the 300 block of Meadowview Drive sometime between 11 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Someone opened a vehicle believed to be unlocked and removed $543.12 worth of items.

On Saturday between 1:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., two more vehicles on Yosef Drive at the Mountaineer Village apartment complex were also burglarized with a total of $900 worth of items taken.

One vehicle was a Jeep Wrangler, and police suspect the thief or thieves unzipped the soft top to gain access. The second vehicle was possibly left unlocked.

The final break-in occurred on Saturday afternoon sometime between 12:30 and 2 p.m. The victim is unsure if the theft of $100 worth of items occurred at the Watauga Swim Complex parking lot or at the residence on Ambling Way. A malfunctioning door lock led investigators to believe the suspect or suspects bypassed the vehicles’ electronic locking system in some way.

“Due to the fact all the thefts occurred in one night, I will proceed in the investigations as if they are connected,” Osbourne said.