After returning from vacation Sunday, an Austin couple discovered that their home had been burglarized and thieves made off with $220,000 worth of goods. Suspects stole 45 guns, including 15 AR rifles, more than 1,000 rounds of ammo and a whole host of jewelry, valuable coins, antique family heirlooms and cash.
Joe Lohmeier had spent several days in Mexico with his girlfriend, Kelsey Majors, but the couple had been home for some time before they discovered the house had been burglarized. Lohmeier told a local Fox affiliate that initially there were no signs of a break-in, although he did notice a couple things out of the ordinary, like leaves and dirt inside his house and a smoke detector on the floor.
A couple of hours, Lohmeier opened the closet where he kept his gun safe. That’s when his heart sank and he realized that the dirt and leaves on the floor were from the burglars making their way in and out of the house with Lohmeier’s belongings. “It was just shock,” Majors said.
The safe had been turned to the side and cut open. A few firearms were left on the ground, along with scattered remnants of a coin collection and boxes that once housed other guns but are now gone.
Investigators think the burglary was planned and took several people a few hours to complete. There were no obvious signs of a break-in, other than some windows that were left unlocked by the suspects, and no other part of the house seemed to have been touched. Lohmeier also said it appeared the suspects used his dolly and extension cord while they were in the house.
“Someone had to have known we were gone,” Lohmeier said.
Authorities have most of the serial numbers from the guns and dusted the home for fingerprints, but haven’t revealed whether they have any leads at this time. However, they did say they had never seen anything like this before and it appeared to be a job carried out by professionals.
Lohmeier is concerned about the firearms being on the streets and getting into the wrong hands, but is equally disturbed by the fact that priceless family heirlooms were were taken, including jewelry that belonged to Majors’ great grandmother. Among the loot was also an engagement ring which Lohmeier had purchased with plans to propose to Majors.
Lohmeier is offering a $20,000 reward in hopes that at least some of the items will be found.
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