Skeeter's Gone

A cat burglar steals dog ashes in Chestnut Hill.

by Trish Boppert

DOG DAZED: Kutzer now has nothing to remember his pet by. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

crime

When Paul Kutzer drifted off for a cat nap in his Chestnut Hill bedroom a few weeks back, the last thing the teenager expected was to wake up and see someone checking out his possessions. But that's precisely what happened one day in late June.

Here's what he witnessed: a "normal looking [guy who] looked embarrassed, the way somebody might look if they were at someone else's house and got caught checking out the bedrooms when they thought no one else was around."

But before the sleep-besotted 17-year-old could utter a word, the interloper turned on his heels and exited. Curiosity may kill any number of cats, but teenagers hell-bent on snoring away a summer morning are another species entirely, and Kutzer proved no exception. Assuming that he'd embarrassed "one of my mom's friends or something," Kutzer rolled over and went back to sleep.By the time he woke up, the thief had long since left.

That afternoon, when Kutzer asked his mom if she'd had any particularly nosy friends over for a visit earlier that day, Jane Degenhardt had no idea what he was talking about.A quick inventory of their home provided several clues, including the meticulously slit screen through which the unknown thief gained entry.(It also turned out to be the entry point for several large, annoying horseflies that were buzzing about the living room.)

"He went through every single room, and even though he was careful to put everything back where he found it, the more we looked the more we realized that it was all just slightly askew," recalls Degenhardt. "Nothing seemed to be missing, which was kind of funny because he must have decided that our stuff just wasn't worth stealing, including my jewelry. Realizing that someone has gone through all your stuff is unsettling and creepy whether anything is taken or not."

It got a bit more unsettling, however, when mother and son realized something had been taken — right off Paul's dresser. Specifically, the thief lifted the earthly remains of Kutzer's Boston terrier, Skeeter, who died four years ago but has not been forgotten. The ashes and bone fragments were stored in a simple wooden box, with a small metal plate (engraved with the dog's name) affixed to the lid. So to Kutzer, the thief did get something of value.

"I was thinking intensely about my dog after this happened, and I realized that I don't have any connection to him anymore, because someone chose to take that away," he says. "This person didn't get anything of financial value, and I'm glad for that, but he did steal something that had a lot of emotional value. He probably didn't have time to look inside everything, and because the box had this little lock on the clasp, he probably thought it valuable."

Degenhardt called the police as soon as she realized someone had broken in; she says the officer who responded to their Ardleigh Street home suggested that the thief was probably looking for cash as opposed to items he'd have to pawn or fence. She says she's not the first to fall victim to a neat-freak burglar.

"I've heard of at least two other incidents that people think have been attributed to this particular burglar," she says. "If the rumors are true, this guy must know how to fit in well with the neighborhoods he visits, because the break-ins I've heard about are said to take place during the day, when plenty of people are at home, or working in their yards, or just out and about."

Though police confirm there've been 14 burglaries in the 14th District in the month ending July 23, no further details about the incidents are available. This case was labeled an "attempted burglary."

Her boy might have lost the only thing that kept him tied to his dog, but Degenhardt says that all things considered, things could've been worse.

"Having heard of robberies where the homeowners come home and discover their things broken and thrown all over the place, I have to say that if I had to chose someone to be burgled by, he'd be a good choice," she concludes, relieved that nobody was injured in the process. "He was very neat and tidy and if Paul hadn't woken up while he was in his bedroom, it would probably have taken us a while to realize that anyone had even been in the house."

(editorial@citypaper.net)