Husband and wife watch live on phone as thieves break into home
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Doug Criss, CNN
(CNN) — What’s worse than having your home burglarized? Helplessly watching it happen live on your phone.
A Kansas City firefighter and his wife experienced this on New Year’s Eve when two men broke into their home while they were away.
Ryan Koehler and his wife Kelsey watched the entire burglary on a phone app.
“I was like, oh it’s just the dog walking around,” Kelsey Koehler told CNN affiliate WDAF. “And that’s when I saw them kicking the door, and I literally just started shaking.”
A text sent to their phones let them know there was movement in the house, then they watched it all via a security camera in the living room.
In the video, the family’s dog looks out the front window as the doorbell rings, and then watches as the men kick down the front door and walk casually through the house, looking for valuables.
They check out the bedrooms before returning to the living room to rip a TV off the wall. After taking it and some other electronics, the men are gone almost as fast as they appeared.
Message to the thieves
“It’s nerve-wracking. Kind of makes you sick to your stomach,” Ryan Koehler said.
The couple has filed a police report, but no one’s been arrested yet. Police think the thieves are behind several burglaries in the neighborhood.
The dog’s traumatized and Koehler’s wife, who’s pregnant, just doesn’t feel safe at home anymore.
“When my wife comes home, she checks every door, looks under the bed, makes sure no one’s here,” he said.
But Ryan Koehler has a message for the men.
“It’s karma. It’s gonna catch up to you,” he said. “Eventually you’re going to knock the door down, and somebody’s going to be waiting behind that door.”