The tranquillity of a six-member household in Evatt was shattered in the early hours of Thursday after two intruders broke into the family home and allegedly stole two sets of car keys from bedside tables while a man and his wife were asleep.
They then drove away with the family's two vehicles parked outside.
The woman, her husband, their three young children and their grandfather didn't hear anything unusual when the home invaders allegedly struck around 5am. ACT Policing is investigating the "brazen" break-in that was caught on CCTV in its entirety.
"I think they came through the window screen on the ground floor," the mother told The Canberra Times, speaking on the home invasion on the condition of anonymity. "We heard some noises but thought it was a possum."
The family did not realise two thieves had broken into the house, solely targeting the keys to the family's 2024 red Ford Ranger Raptor and 2018 grey Skoda Superb parked in the driveway.
In a daring move, the thieves entered the couple's bedroom to steal the keys from a bedside table.
"The car keys were in our bedroom on our bedside. They came into the room and my husband thought it was the kids and rolled over. They were so brazen," the shocked victim recalled, having slept just inches away from the intruders.
The family only discovered the burglary around 7.30am on Thursday when they woke to find both vehicles missing. They immediately alerted ACT Policing, who arrived at the scene later that morning to conduct forensic examinations.
The breakthrough in the investigation came down to the Ford's inbuilt vehicle-tracking technology, which was linked to the husband's smartphone through an app.
"It was a Ford app on his phone that showed the location of the Raptor. The police were great and they found it after we showed them the app," the woman said.
An ACT Policing spokesperson confirmed the vehicles were reported stolen from the Evatt property on Thursday, May 21, and that CCTV footage captured two people entering the residence.
"Following investigations, police located the Ford Ranger Raptor outside a residence in Ngunnawal on Thursday afternoon. The grey Skoda Superb was located on Friday in Scullin," the spokesperson said.
Investigations into the thefts are ongoing. Anyone with information that could assist ACT Policing is urged to contact Crime Stoppers via the Crime Stoppers ACT website, quoting reference number 8392014.
