'You never think it’s going to happen to you': Family catches home break-in on camera
A Denver area family is on edge after their home was broken into Saturday evening and around $10,000 worth of items were taken.
AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) -- A Denver area family is on edge after their home was broken into Saturday evening and around $10,000 worth of items were taken.
Nancy Amaya and Warner Huerta said they left their house on Saturday evening to go to Huerta's mom's house. They had just gotten on the road when Huerta received a Ring doorbell notification on his phone and he noticed a woman standing just outside their door.
"I’m like, ‘Hi, can I help you with something?’ I thought it was a neighbor. It was freezing temperatures. Cold out. It’s dark. So, I thought it was a neighbor that needs help," Huerta said. "I'm like, ‘Hey, nobody’s home.’"
Huerta admitted he shouldn't have said that, but at the moment, he didn't think twice. The family lives in a quiet, newer neighborhood in eastern Aurora near the Murphy Creek Golf Course where nothing out-of-the-ordinary seems to happen.
But after the woman left without a word, Amaya said it left her unsettled.
"We went to his mom’s house and at his mom’s house I still had that almost gut feeling," she said.
She then looked at one of the many security cameras they have on the property and her stomach dropped.
"Our living room camera is flipped up," she recalled. "And I was like, ‘That’s not right.’"
She checked their dining room camera that faces the basement door, which is normally shut. But this time, it was open.
Suspect caught in the act flipping a home surveillance camera (Credit: Nancy Amaya). 
The family said many rooms had been torn apart following the break-in as the thieves searched for valuables (KDVR). 
Surveillance video captures the suspects coming out of the basement and heading up to the bedrooms (Credit: Nancy Amaya).
"I roll it back a little bit and instantly I see two men in ski masks inside the home. I panicked and I was like, ‘Somebody’s inside our house.’"
They called for Aurora Police and hurried to their house. Police cleared their home, ensuring no one was still inside. But, once Amaya and Huerto stepped inside, their hearts sank.
"Our home was just torn apart from top to bottom," Amaya said.
They said guns, jewelry, purses, shoes, a safe and even home decor were taken. But most importantly, Amaya said their sense of security was also stolen.
"My kids, they didn’t even want to come home. They just don’t feel safe. And that’s the biggest thing for us is that. Even my four-year-old, she was crying because she didn’t want to come home today because she said the robbers were in the house."
Monday was the first time since the incident they had come back to the house. They said it's unnerving knowing the thieves are still out there somewhere and are hoping they will be caught soon.
The Aurora Police Department said investigators are trying to determine if the female who rang their doorbell about 20 minutes prior to the burglary is involved. Anyone with information is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or report a tip anonymously online.
Meanwhile, the family said there were a lot of things they would do differently looking back, but are saying the best advice they can offer is to have security cameras and a home alarm system.
"We got too comfortable. There were safety measures that we failed to take that day like setting our alarm. Probably for the same reason that you get comfortable in your neighborhood and you never think it’s going to happen to you. I never in a million years would’ve guessed it would happen to me," Amaya said.
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