Police are searching for two people who stole purses from cars parked outside a Manchester funeral home during a wake and cashed checks worth thousands of dollars.
According to police, the thieves broke into cars at the John F. Tierney funeral home on West Center Street during a wake on Dec. 7, took purses and withdrew more than $7,400 from one resident's bank account.
"We were there with my family, mourning the loss and I had gone out to leave and looked down into my car," Cromwell resident Lisa Delano said. "When I reached for the handle, I saw that there was glass on my seat and thought maybe my sunroof had broke [sic]. I looked up and saw that my window was smashed, then looked down and saw my purse was gone."
[HAR] Thieves Steal from Mourners Cars During Wake
Delano, who was attending the wake of a family friend, said she lost "everything" in the burglary – her credit cards, check book, cash and house keys.
She was the first one to realize the mourners had been targeted and went back into the funeral home to alert other people who were attending the wake.
"It totally turned everything into chaos, total chaos, because now everyone is worried about who got broken into. We're already in mourning and now there's all kinds of craziness going on," she recalled.
Local
Now police are searching for the man and woman behind the break-ins. Authorities have described the people responsible as a man with a beard and brown hair and a woman with dirty blond hair and glasses. Both appear to be in their 20s and were last seen traveling in a blue four-door sedan, police said.
Police released surveillance footage of one person cashing checks at a nearby bank, but haven't said whether they believe he committed the burglaries.
"You really can't express the emotion. It was just horrible," Delano said.
She added that the decision to leave her purse in the car was a "bad choice," but said she didn't want to be holding it and worrying about it while hugging everyone at the wake.
"Don't leave your purses in the car," she advised.
Police are asking for help identifying the people believed to be responsible. Anyone with information is urged to call Manchester police at 860-645-5500.
