CSI San Jon????? or What the heck happened here?

What the heck indeed.

Michael and I went back to San Jon NM to clean out his dad's house and hopefully get it sold. Got to San Jon on the 22nd and this is the first thing we saw when we opened the front door.

We knew right away that something was wrong. Note the cabinet doors and drawers that are open. We didn't leave things that way when we left in August.

So....................we went further into the house and saw this.

And..............

Yep, as much as we didn't want to accept it, someone had broken into the house. But the worst was yet to come.

Milo's beloved train layout had been destroyed and all the rolling stock (cars, engines, etc.) were missing along with some large pieces of the scene. The whole family loved that layout and one of our main objectives in making the trip was to bring the layout back to Omaha for Brandon. Doug and Brandon were already making plans for the layout along with additions they wanted to make. I was speechless and knew Brandon was going to be devestated.

We called the Quay County Sheriff's department and Ben, a deputy on the force and good friend of Milo's arrived on the scene to investigate.

Dusting for prints

Discovering the point of entry.

As of the date of this post, we have gotten no news on anything that may have been recovered. We are guessing nothing will ever be found.

They got away with alot of "stuff", but the only thing that really mattered to us was the train. A reward is going to be offered.

We brought back as much train stuff as we could. Doug and Brandon will use it to start to rebuild. The legacy will continue in our memories of Milo and all the fun he gave us. They can never take that away.

But I will probably alway be mad. We are saying "if only". If only we had brought more pieces of the train back home with us in August. If only we had gone back to finish cleaning the house sooner. If only we had arranged for the Sheriff's office to check on the house regularly. So many "If onlys".

Life will go on. I just hope that whoever is responsible is caught before they can destroy other people's lives. We were lucky. Only stuff was taken. No damage was done to the house and no one was hurt. Others may not be so lucky.

On a brighter note, I saw Brandon tonight and he is disappointed but already making plans for the new layout. You just can't keep a good family down!!!!

:-)