83-Year-Old Woman Chases Burglars Out of Her House

Police recommend that if you know or suspect that someone has invaded your home, you should avoid a confrontation if possible and call officers immediately to deal with the possibly dangerous situation.

Tell that to an 83-year-old Wauwawosa woman who came home Wednesday to find two men burglarizing her house. She charged in and routed them out of her home.

At 12:06 p.m., the resident of the 4200 block of North 93rd Street called police to say that she had just encountered two burglars and had a description of their car and a partial license number.

She said she had just come home, pulled into her alley and saw there was a strange car parked in front of her garage. Then she saw a man walk into the open back door of her home.

The woman got out of her car and strode to her house, noting that a window had been smashed in. She charged into her kitchen and yelled, “Who’s here?”

Two men appeared, and when she demanded, “What are you doing here?” both just walked quickly past her without a word, went out the door, got in their car and left.

The woman followed them outside and was able to get the first three characters off a temporary license in the back window of the blue two-door the men were driving.

The only description of the suspects she could give police, based on her brief encounter, was that they were both black men about 6 feet tall with medium builds and complexions, and that they were both “nicely groomed and dressed.” She did not believe she could recognize them if she saw them again.

The men had briefly rummaged through some drawers in the woman's bedroom, and one had taken a jewelry box but dropped it in the hallway when they were discovered.

The only items the woman could find missing were some inexpensive costume rings.