With their then-five-year-old son asleep, Jennifer and Collin Newman lay tied-up and in shock as they heard two men rummage through their home and steal $20,000 worth of their belongings. Yesterday, they went through it all again.
This time, however, Crime Stoppers was conducting a re-enactment of the robbery, which originally happened at 11:35 p.m. on Mon., July 3, 2006, and while actors traipsed through the house, the Newmans described their initial thoughts during the half-hour ordeal.
“The first thing that was going through my head was the safety of my wife and son,” Collin said, while his wife Jennifer said it was hard to register what was going on because it seemed so “surreal.”
After breaking through the screen of an open window with a hatchet, one burglar let the other two – one of whom had a crowbar – in through the back door.
They promptly tied up Collin, who had run down to see what the commotion was all about, and put him and his wife under the watchful eye of a female culprit.
Their son Jax slept through the entire thing, since the robbers were quiet, efficient and “very business-like.”
They loaded everything of street-value, including computer equipment, cell phones, cash, and credit and debit cards – for which they demanded PINs – into a vehicle and drove off.
It was at that time that Jennifer, who had pretended she still couldn’t move after her ties had slipped off, untied her husband, who ran next door to call 911.
They hope that the re-enactment brings closure to the situation and that someone might have talked since the occurrence.
Since the family is not involved in illegal activity, it’s uncertain why their house, located in the 5000 block of Vallance Cres. N.W., was targeted, but they have since installed several more lights and an alarm system.
“I was hell-bent on not moving,” Jennifer said. “This is my house and they’re not going to win.”
Det. Stephanie Brookes said that the point of the crime re-enactment was to renew public interest and that “any word we can get out to the public is good, any tips … are beneficial.”
The suspects are described as three Caucasian individuals: a man in his late teens to early 20’s, approximately 5’9” to 5’11” tall with a slim build, wearing a black balaclava or bandana covering his face, who is believed to go by the name “Black” or “Buck”; another man about 5’9” to 5’11”, about 200 lbs. with a thick build and dark hair, who was wearing a dark-coloured cap, bandana and wind-breaker at the time; and a slim woman about 5’3” tall who was wearing black yoga-style pants with a white stripe, dark shoes, a dark hat and bandana and a long coat extending to the knee.
