Several Vehicle Windows Smashed & Purses Stolen in Darien & New Canaan

After windows were smashed and purses grabbed in vehicles parked in Darien and New Canaan on Friday, police in both towns suspect three or four males driving around in a red Ford SUV committed the crimes.

Surveillance video taken from a distance by cameras at the Darien Y parking lot on Friday have given police clues that detectives are following up, Darien police said. New Canaan police said their information from Darien police describes the vehicle as a red 2013 Ford Explorer with California license plates.

Darien police suspect the same group was responsible for four vehicle break-ins in the same parking lot in March.

In some cases, no windows were smashed and it appeared that the vehicles had been unlocked (owners said they didn’t remember if they’d locked them, but there was no evidence of any other means of entry).

It appears that in every single case, a purse was visible — left either on a seat or on the floor, in the front or by the back seat. Often the targets were expensive cars and some of the stolen property was quite expensive. Some other thefts from motor vehicles also occurred in the past week but police believe they were not connected to the suspects in the red SUV.

Police say they are actively investigating the crimes.

Here’s a list of the thefts, according to the police department in that town:

DARIEN — Friday morning at the YMCA; police were called to the scene by a YMCA employee at 11:16 a.m. All three cars were parked near the Post Road entrance to the parking lot:

2004 Ford Expedition — The owner parked her car at about 8:45 a.m. She later returned and found the rear left-side window was smashed and her purse was missing from the back seat. It’s a Zara brand purse valued at $100 and containing a wallet with about $95 in cash, a Louis Vitton checkbook cover and several credit and debit cards.

2010 Lexus RX350 — The owner parked her car at about 9 a.m. and later returned to find her rear left-side window was smashed and a purse was taken from the back seat. The purse contained about $200 in cash, and a wallet with credit cards and debit cards.

2012 Mercedes Benz GL450 — The owner parked her car at about 9 a.m. and returned to find her front right-side window smashed. Missing from the front seat was a purse containing a wallet with $300 in cash, along with credit and debit cards.

NEW CANAAN — Also on Friday (in the morning at Waveny Park, later in the morning at Mead Park):

2010 Mercedes Benz, model not specified — A 42-year-old Darien woman who parked her car at 9:20 a.m. at Waveny Park, to the right of the mansion relatively near South Avenue, returned about an hour later to find the rear left-side window smashed and her purse taken from the floor. The purse is a Givenchy valued at $2,000. In the purse was a Stuart Weitzman brand wallet valued at $200 and containing $200 in cash, along with credit and debit cards and her driver’s license. But worth more than all that was a woman’s Rolex watch with diamonds, valued at $8,000. A witness saw a newer red “crossover type” vehicle, with its engine running and parked next to the victim’s car. The witness saw two people, including one man who may have been bald.

2009 Lincoln Navigator — A 51-year-old Darien woman parked her car near the other side of Waveny Park — on Lapham Road near Talmadge Hill Road and the Merritt Parkway overpass — at about 9:55 a.m. She returned at about 10:20 a.m. to find the rear left-side window smashed and a purse taken from the floor just behind the center console. Inside the cork purse valued at $100 and now also missing areKate Spade brand sunglasses valued at $200, Mosely Tribe brand sunglasses valued at $200, Oliver Peoples brand sunglasses valued at $200, a total of $450 in cash as well as credit cards and her driver’s license.

Vehicle make and model not given — At about 10:45 a.m. a New Canaan woman parked her car near the tennis courts at Mead Park. The vehicle was unlocked. When she looked for her purse, she couldn’t find it where she expected to see it on the floor by the back seat, but she thought she left it at home. By 4:12 p.m., she called police to report it missing. The purse contained her red leather wallet, which had credit cards in it. A police report had no further information on the missing property or when the woman had returned to the vehicle.

A BMW X3 (no year given) — A Stamford woman, 54, parked her car at 11 a.m. at Mead Park, on Richmond Hill Road near Grove Street, and took her dogs for a quick walk of about 10 minutes. When she returned, her Coach brand purse, valued at $200, was missing. She thought she locked the car, but no windows were broken and there was no evidence of forced entry. Also missing: $150 in cash and a Samsung Galaxy smartphone valued at $500. The phone was later found not too far from the scene.