'Compassionate' Burglar Who Stole Jewelry From Condo Sought

EVANSTON, IL - A burglar who made off with about $30,000 worth of jewelry and other items from a condo building on Good Friday is being described as “compassionate” by a victim of the heist.

“Three things he did were surprising, and taken together, perhaps compassionate,” said a female victim, who owns a unit at the building in the 1500 block of Hinman Avenue where the burglary took place during the afternoon hours of Friday, March 25. “He left the doors locked differently, alerting owners immediately that something was amiss. He left three pieces of silver in a six-drawer silver chest that tell the pattern of most of the silver. And he left 10 pairs of earrings tucked far back under the chest by the front door, with one earring visible to someone standing near the chest.”

The woman said the man entered the building claiming to be delivering items from Amazon, and left with a blue backpack filled with silver.

But it’s what the man did not take, and how he left the crime scene, that is being described as a big help.

Locking the door as he left when it was usually left unlocked alerted the victim something was amiss.

“Either he was stupid, or he told us something consciously,” the woman said.

Leaving some of the silver sterling behind also will allow the victim to find the pattern, which came from her grandmother, again. A pattern she never would have found again had it all been taken.

Leaving behind some earrings also means the woman isn’t without jewelry.

“That was and is compassionate,” the woman said. “He wouldn't have known, maybe, but what he left was beautiful. It touched me.”

The Evanston Police Department is investigating the crime and asks for the public’s help in identifying a man whose face was captured on a pair of surveillance cameras. He is suspected of committing the burglary.

Contact the Evanston Police Department detective division at (847) 866-5040 with any information.