Tom and Peggy McElvoy sat watching a rerun of JAG late Monday in their Mansfield home, using headphones so they could hear better.
Meanwhile, a brazen burglar broke the glass of a patio door about 20 feet from where the couple, both 79, were sitting, unaware of what was going on.The burglar rooted through a jewelry chest in the bedroom. He took necklaces, rings, watches and an assortment of other jewelry. He snatched the first ring that Tom McElvoy gave his wife. The burglar also took money and credit cards.Then he slipped away. The McElvoys didn't realize they had been burglarized until they found the bedroom door locked."I picked it open, and that's when we saw that someone had been there," Tom McElvoy said.They say the burglar made off with more than $20,000 worth of jewelry and cash.No one had been arrested as of Thursday."Mostly, burglars will wait until homeowners are away from a home," Mansfield police officer Sonia Brannen said Thursday.Tom McElvoy said the alarm system wasn't on. The couple said they had no reason to feel threatened since they had not had any problems in the 32 years they have lived in the house, just off the Walnut Creek Country Club golf course."We don't feel threatened when we're at home," Tom McElvoy said Thursday. "So we don't turn it on until we go to bed."He said the burglar broke in between 9 and 11:30 p.m. The drapes at the patio were open, and a light was on, McElvoy said. "He had to have seen us."But the couple couldn't hear the burglar because of the headphones. "We have the headphones on because it makes the voices clearer," McElvoy said.He believes the burglar may have been in the house before. "It happened so fast that I think they knew where to look."Anyone with information should call Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477.Domingo Ramirez Jr.,817-390-7763Twitter: @mingoramirezHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
