Roanoke man says wife discovered people who broke into their house

ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Roanoke County police are investigating three break-ins just this week in the southern part of the county.

This is in addition to 10 that happened in that same area in the last two months.

Meanwhile, Roanoke City police are also investigating a string of break-ins and burglaries in the Crystal Spring area.

James Houston says it was his wife who came home last week and realized someone was in the house.

"She got out of her vehicle, and noticed that the door was open, so she got a little closer and saw that it had been crow-barred open," said Houston.

Houston says his wife went back to her car and hit the panic button.

"We think that was a great thing to do because they apparently looked out the window at that point and took off out the front door," said Houston.

Houston says police scoured his house for clues.

"They came here, they looked all through the house, they took fingerprints, and they were pretty thorough in their investigation. Hopefully they'll be able to get some great leads and catch them pretty soon," said Houston.

Houston says he's hopeful, but so far, police have no leads on dozens of robberies.

Including Houston's, there were three others in Roanoke in the past two weeks, including another house in his neighborhood.

There were also 10 robberies across South Roanoke County in August and September, and that string of robberies continues this week with two more houses getting hit right here in Roanoke County's Cotton Hill neighborhood.

"There are nice houses here in the neighborhood, there are people who take care of their properties, so I guess it looks like a good target for potential thieves," said Houston.

Houston says while waiting for police to track down the criminals, he and his neighbors have invested in security systems.

"If they come back here, they're probably in for a rude awakening because we're all pretty prepared at this point to watch out for it," said Houston.