The Victim: Erin Aldrich
The Crime: Burglary of a motor vehicle
Date: Sunday, April 4
Time: Between 11a.m. and 8 a.m.
Location: 10000 block of Caribou

A car was ransacked — again.

Erin Aldrich is back in school. An MBA student at the University of Texas, she returned after an amazing athletic career. The Lake Highlands High School graduate competed in the high jump in the Sydney Olympics and played for the U.S. National Volleyball team, traveling the world before playing professionally in Italy and Japan. Unfortunately, a knee injury sidelined her career. Feeling she needed more to fall back on, she made the move to Austin.

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Over Easter weekend, she drove to her parents’ Lake Highlands home to spend time with family. A thief saw Aldrich’s SUV as a target, and her window was smashed and a campus bag stolen. It was a $50 loss, she estimates, but the window costs $400 to repair.

“It happened in the middle of the night on Sunday, before I was scheduled to drive back to Austin that Monday,” Aldrich says. “This is the second time an SUV has been broken into in front of my parents’ house.”

Aldrich’s uncle’s car also was broken into on a Sunday night while he was in town for Christmas.

“My car was broken into on the driver’s side rear window. There was an empty black computer bag in the back, so they broke the window for the computer, only to find that the bag was empty,” she says. “That window is the most expensive window to replace in an SUV.

“It was just so disappointing to know that there are people running around the night of a holiday like Easter or Christmas doing these things. Of course, it’s disheartening to know that they would do it ever, but Easter? Christmas?”

The crime angered Aldrich and she has learned a lesson in trying to avoid future car break-ins.

“I just can’t believe there are people out there that don’t have anything better to do in the middle of the night and that have stooped so low as to damage other people’s property. I don’t care how bad the economic times are; it’s never an excuse to steal or damage another person’s property,” she says. “My advice is to not leave anything in your car! If they think they see something, they’ll cause more monetary damage by simply breaking a window for no reason. If there’s no reason to break a window, it’s less likely they’ll do so.”

Sgt. Keitric Jones of the Northeast Patrol Division agrees with Aldrich’s advice — avoid leaving items in locked cars.

“Always remember to lock your vehicle, take belongings out, and hide property inside your vehicle,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what city you’re in, it doesn’t take long for a thief to break a window and take your property out of your vehicle.

“Unfortunately, all types of crime occur on any given day, holidays or not. However, holidays are a good time for burglars to hit due to families being out of town on vacation.”