THE last photos a West Wodonga woman had of her mother before she died were stolen in a “brazen” aggravated burglary on Sunday morning.
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The 54-year-old did not want to be identified out of fear.
The woman, her husband and two daughters, aged 16 and 18, were asleep in their Falcon Circuit home when several people forced open the roller door to their garage and sneaked in through the unlocked laundry door between 12am and 5am.
They stole car keys, a laptop, mobile phones, iPods and wallets from the kitchen and living room.
They took a light blue Toyota Sportivo from the garage and a white Holden VP Commodore from the driveway.
The Toyota was later found dumped in Glenroy yesterday morning, its only damage a flat tyre.
The woman said her first reaction when she discovered the $17,500 burglary was to scream.
“I was wailing. I was just screaming,” she said.
Her mother died at aged 84 from ovarian cancer last year.
On her white Apple laptop were photos from their last Mother’s Day together.
“It shattered me,” she said.
“I’m just hoping someone somewhere will hand it in ... they’re special to me.”
She said her daughters went into their VCE exams yesterday with no sleep.
“My 16-year-old — she’s petrified they’re going to come back,” she said.
Wodonga police Leading Sen-Constable Rachael Kelly said the burglary was brazen but it was also opportunistic.
“We have no other reason to think they’re a target — they’re just a normal mum, dad and kids,” Sen-Constable Kelly said.
It’s the second aggravated burglary in West Wodonga in a matter of days.
A home in Wedge Court, less than a kilometre away from Falcon Circuit, was broken into on Thursday while a quadriplegic man and his wife slept.
During the same evening, a West Albury woman living alone came face-to-face with the thief that stole her jewels as she got ready to go to bed.
Anyone with information is urged to phone Wodonga police on (02) 6049 2600 or Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.