Burglars Ransack Woman's 'Getaway' Home in Braidwood

Her home-away-from-home was ransacked and burglarized.

And, as Bolingbrook’s Colleen Spangenberg tries to come to grips with what happened, she gets emotional describing her feelings.

“I’m devastated,” said Spangenberg, who estimated she lost between $10,000 and $15,000 worth of personal property and belongings when burglars tore apart her second home—located on the corner of West Cermak Road and North School Street in Braidwood.

The thieves took a radio out of car parked in the driveway; a tool box, air compressor and Saturn auto motor from the detached garage; and a refrigerator and hot water heater from the home itself.

“I just want some public awareness,” Spangenberg said. “I want people to know my home was watched. These guys waited for the right moment to smash-and-grab. They had to have known what was in there and had to have targeted certain things because some other big-ticket items weren’t touched. They literally picked through stuff and took exactly what they wanted.”

Spangenberg said the thieves pulled off the heist sometime between Sept. 11-16.

“A code enforcement guy was there on 9/11 checking the property,” she said. “I actually had a complaint for overgrown weeds. So, the guy was there, and I’m glad he was. I know everything was locked and good.”

She first learned of trouble on Sept. 16.

“I got a text from a neighbor who said the garage door—the side door—was open,” Spangenberg said. “I jumped in my car and drove down there. By the time I got there, the door had been propped shut. Nobody was there.”

She realized immediately the car sitting the driveway had been smashed into and called Braidwood police. And, then, she started looking around.

Many of her most treasured belongings—and those belonging to her father—were gone.

“Everything I had of any real worth was there,” said Spangenberg, 33, who works as an operations and financial analyst in Naperville and lives in Bolingbrook with her boyfriend of 10 years. “I just stay in Bolingbrook because it’s easier to get back-and-forth to work. I just have the essentials in Bolingbrook.

“Everything I had—and everything I ever owned of any real value— was in Braidwood.”

Spangenberg doesn’t expect to get any of it back, either. She said burglars pried open three deadbolt locks to gain entrance to the garage. She said they pried open the back door on the house and took it off the hinges to remove the fridge. And she said they ripped open boxes, spewed everything on the floor and filled her own Rubbermaid containers with items they wanted before departing.

Spangenberg said Braidwood police investigated and took her statement but were unable to get any fingerprints. Unless someone comes forward with new information, she fears the case soon will go cold. And she said her insurance covers the structure in Braidwood but not the contents of the home.

“It’s Braidwood,” Spangenberg said. “I never would have expected anything like this to happen.”

And that’s why her emotions are running at an all-time high. She viewed the home as a getaway and visited it a couple times a month.

“It’s a horrible feeling,” Spangenberg said. “They picked through everything. They thought they could have it.”