Brazen Burglar Targeting Homes In South Denver Neighborhood

DENVER (CBS4) - More than a dozen homes in Denver's Southmoor Park neighborhood have been brazenly burglarized recently, some while the owners were home.

"Kind of shocking they would be so bold," resident Lisa Ide told CBS4. "I definitely hope they catch him."

Two homeowners said they could hear the burglar trying to bust into their homes in the neighborhood near Interstate 25 and Hampden Avenue.

On Aug. 15 around 10 p.m., Ide heard a loud crash in her home on Oneida Street.

"My husband and I had just gone upstairs and had gone to bed and we heard a loud banging noise at the front door," she said. The burglar was unable to break through the front door, so he hopped the Ide's side fence and tried the back door. Ide's husband ran downstairs and scared the man away.

Denver police detectives told the Ides other homes in the area have been broken into, some also with the occupants inside. She said they told her five others were burglarized the same night as the attempt on her home and one was victimized the night before.

That same night, a few blocks away, Matt and Courtney Krusemark told a similar story.

He had headed to bed when he heard a huge crash -- "like a window falling... or something" -- so he ran downstairs to find his back door shattered. The burglar ran away, leaving muddy footprints in his kitchen.

"It's brazen. It's pretty bold," he said.

Denver police said catching the bandit is a top priority and warn residents he may be armed.

"In order to commit a crime like this, you're pretty desperate," Ron Hackett with Denver police said.