AUBURN — A pair of men accused of tying up and robbing a woman in a Park Avenue home Thursday afternoon remained on the loose Friday night.
A day after the homeowner was robbed at gunpoint inside her house, some who live in the area remained unnerved.
“Every sound makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” said Laurie Ann Charest, who lives nearby.
Police were searching for a pair of men who made off with the victim’s SUV and a Harley-Davidson in the 2:30 p.m. robbery.
The motorcycle was recovered Thursday afternoon in Poland, but as of Friday night, there was no sign of the stolen Ford Explorer or the men who took it.
Police said it appeared that shortly before the men broke into the woman’s house, they may have burglarized another house just down the road.
A man who lives at that residence reported that the burglars had ransacked his home, pulling out bureau drawers but inexplicably leaving behind credit cards, a checkbook and electronics. He said they had rifled through his medicine cabinet in the bathroom, yet all he noticed missing was a roll of toilet paper.
That victim reported he discovered the break-in when he came home at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. A woman who lives in an apartment upstairs from him, he wrote in a Facebook post, reported that jewelry had been taken during the break-in.
Investigators haven’t yet confirmed a link between the burglaries, but it left residents with many questions: Had the culprits been watching the neighborhood before committing the break-ins? Had they arrived there on foot? And most important of all: Would they be back?
The homes that were burglarized are on the Summer Street end of Park Avenue, less than a mile from Mount Auburn Avenue. The woman who was tied up Thursday had come home for lunch and interrupted a burglary-in-progress, police said.
After the suspects had fled her home, the woman was able to free herself and call for help. She was not hurt.
Charest said many people who live in the area have dogs. She said the neighborhood is typically peaceful, with neighbors who look out for one another, but some were rattled by the break-ins.
“We were actually leaving windows open at night and stuff,” Charest said. “Not anymore.”
This Ford Explorer was taken during an afternoon burglary and robbery on Park Avenue in Auburn on Thursday. Anyone with information is asked to call Auburn police at 333-6650.
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