Crime & Safety
Not Quite 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears': Squatters Trash Oak Forest Home
Strangers have been living in a family's home while it's up for sale—and they haven't exactly been stealthy about it, leaving behind their belongings and trash.
An Oak Forest woman checking on her family's home up for sale found more than a little amiss Saturday, Jan. 7.
When she arrived at the home in the 15500 block of Vista Drive and found the back door open, she suspected a robbery. But during a tour of the home with police officers, instead of theft, she found several personal items—including mail and a checkbook—that did not belong to her family strewn around the kitchen.
Throughout the house and garage, she and officers found fast food wrappers, broken bottles, coffee grounds, a GPS, a bike, Club Hollywood card, pill bottles, a sheet of “self-written lyrics,” and more. They were inventoried as part of a criminal trespassing investigation.
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The front door of the home had been barricaded using kitchen cabinets and the garage door had been disabled, according to the report.
The woman said she hadn't checked on the home since Dec. 20.
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The names of area juveniles who came out to see what was going on were taken down, police said.
