A South Windsor family’s “perfect” day was shattered when they returned home to find their Christmas presents stolen by a burglar.
But a Windsor police officer investigating the crime was able to bring some joy to Indira Killen’s heartbroken kids by delivering a video game system to their Charlevoix Avenue home.
After a trip to Leamington, Killen, her husband and kids returned home Saturday to find the basement door had been forced open.
Inside, the 35-year-old filmmaker/writer found her cameras, computers and engagement ring stolen, her home in shambles and ripped Christmas wrapping paper strewn about.
Devastated, Killen said she called police while her children waited in the car. She said she was terrified someone might be in the house, but she also didn’t the children to see the ruined Christmas gifts.
“We were happy, the day was perfect,” she said. “Then this happened.”
As police arrived at around 1 p.m. Saturday, they collected evidence and took statements but there was little they could do for the family’s Christmas gifts.
It was later, at around 6 p.m., that Killen’s four-year-old son, Gabriel, asked if one of the forensic officers, Const. Scott Robinson would help out.
He asked the officer “to make the bad guys give back his presents” “and “buy his mom a new computer for work,” Killen said. Robinson had to tell the boy that, while he would try to find the presents, he couldn’t afford to buy anything for the family.
Some time later, Robinson returned with a Nintendo GameCube and enough games for Killen’s son and other children to play — a gift Killen said the officer got from a relative.
“I was so grateful. After I closed the door and wiped my eyes, all I saw was my husband and son playing with it, sitting on the floor,” she said. “The expression on my son’s face was amazing.”
While Killen is thankful her children received something in time for Christmas, she said she’s still uneasy being in the home after the break-in.
She said she had received threatening phone calls at around 2 a.m. last Tuesday morning about comments she had made on her Facebook account.
“He was saying ‘when you start to accuse people, you might face problems,’” she said. “The man told me ‘stop putting BS in your Facebook.’” She has not received any phone calls since the break-in, she said.
Killen’s recently completed film, Children’s Paradise, is about domestic violence and child abuse. She said she regularly posts public statuses on Facebook about issues surrounding violence and that have garnered some negative comments.
According to Windsor police, the break-in was likely a crime of opportunity after Killen posted that she and her family would be travelling to Leamington to scope out new locations for her upcoming film. The burglar would have had “lots of time” to go through the house, police said. There are no suspects and neighbours did not report hearing or seeing anything suspicious.
While the case remains unsolved, Killen said she and her family enjoyed a small, but fun, Christmas, especially with the new game system.
“I felt like it was a sign that not everything is wrong, that things will get better,” she said.
Robinson could not be reached for comment.
