By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

SAVAGE - The Bastyr family sits in a house they’ve called home for a number of years – but it doesn’t feel the same anymore.

The comfort they once had has been destroyed after their home was invaded, burglarized and literally “turned upside down” in mid-November.

“I hear every little noise,” Colleen Bastyr said. “I’m always looking through the windows to see if someone is there. When someone knocks at the door – or we hear a sound – my daughter hides.The Bastyr family’s home in
Savage was invaded,
burglarized and literally
turned upside down on Nov.
19. The burglar(s) caused
about $30,000 in damage,
but only stole a laptop
computer.

“That’s the way I feel, too,” she continued. “But I can’t show her that I feel that way, because I’m an adult and I have to try to keep her calm.”

But the reality is that the last time Colleen felt like her house was home was during the early morning hours of Nov. 19 prior to taking her husband, Joel, the hospital at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to have brain surgery.

Colleen and Joel had to be at the hospital by 5:30 a.m., so they left Savage at about 3:45 a.m.

Joel had his surgery – and it went well – so Colleen returned to Savage to drop her sister-in-law off at her own house. Colleen then drove to Shakopee to pick up her eighth-grade daughter, Catherine, from another family member’s house before the two returned to the hospital to visit with Joel following his surgery.

Colleen and Catherine returned home at about 8:30 p.m., but when they pulled up they noticed the interior lights were on.

“No one was supposed to be in our house,” Colleen said; noting the family always locks all the doors.

That’s when Catherine turned to her mother as the two sat in their vehicle, terrified, and said, “’Mom, I think the door is open.’”

Colleen also noticed a window on the upper level of the home was open, so she pulled the vehicle across the street and called 911.

Total disarray

When police arrived at the home at about 8:33 p.m., the officer could see the house was in disarray, Capt. Dave Muelken said. Furniture was turned upside down and officers found a ladder that was leaning adjacent to a bedroom window on the back side of the home.

The front and back doors of the home were open, but no one was inside. The officers also found a couple of electronic items sitting on the deck on the back of the home, which may indicate the burglars were interrupted when they saw the Bastyr’s car headlights or were otherwise scared away by something else.

“After police secured our house and we were able to go inside, we found that our house was torn apart,” Colleen said.

The burglar(s) had scribbled all over the walls, cabinets, floors, chairs and couches in red fingernail polish, Colleen recalls. The curtains were all torn up and the couches had been cut apart with a knife.

The burglar(s) then took ketchup, mustard and salsa out of the refrigerator and poured it all over the Bastyr’s bedroom mattress. Colleen also found that her cabinets, refrigerator and oven range had been smashed, holes were kicked in the doors, and dresser drawers had been dumped on the floor, along with all the shelves and clothes in the family’s closets.

The family dog was found outside the home “cowering in fear,” Colleen said. “Everything was upside down.”

The burglar(s) didn’t steal anything but a laptop computer, Colleen added. But about $30,000 in damage was done, which meant the family had to completely demolish and refinish their kitchen, repaint the walls and try to pick up the pieces of “a senseless act.”

“In 32 years (of working with the Savage Police Department) I have seen burglary damage done to get into a locked room or safe to commit theft,” Muelken said. “But I have never seen damage with the intent to just damage property like in this case.”

Lasting impact

“What do you do?” Colleen said.

“We feel violated. We have to constantly ask, ‘What else did they do?’ because we don’t know until we come across something else,” she added. “My daughter doesn’t even want to stay home anymore.”

When Colleen saw her clothes on the floor, she said she didn’t even want to touch them, as she was disgusted with the fact that whoever could do this to her and her family had their hands all over them.

“They wrecked our life,” she said. “We just keep telling each other at least we weren’t here and we’re all OK and that’s what really matters, but to hurt my daughter the way they hurt her … she won’t even let the dog outside she is so scared.

“I don’t want to be bitter,” Colleen continued. “But whoever did this hurt me mentally. Why would anyone in their right mind do something like this to someone?”

The fact that the kitchen has to be demolished and rebuilt during the holiday season makes the most enjoyable things of the season, such as baking cookies, a nightmare, Colleen said.

“When I went into the cabinet to get a baking pan to do some holiday baking, I found red fingernail polish on my pans and that just reminded me of the damage,” Colleen said. “After scrubbing and scrubbing, and layer after layer of paint, we can still see what the burglars did.”

Her home, a place that used to be a sanctuary of safety, is now a nasty reminder of a day that was supposed to be full of anxiety following brain surgery – not a home invasion.

“We have to live here,” Colleen said. “It’s so hard, but we have to live here.”

Friends have told Colleen that the bright side of this tragic event may be that there is a new kitchen in the near future.

“But I want my kitchen,” Colleen said. “I want my peace of mind back. I don’t want to be afraid. It was hard enough to do the surgery, and then to find my house like this when we got back … it was unbelievable.”

The repair, which needs to be done both physically and mentally, is being done little by little, Colleen said. But, it’s hard to tell Catherine, “Christmas will be icky this year,” she said.

“It feels like they took everything from us,” she added. “It’s devastating. It’s senseless. They didn’t even take anything but a laptop. So, why would you damage everything? Was it a dare? Why would anyone do this? Why us?”

A personal vendetta against the family is one possible theory police are actively investigating, Muelken said; noting the damage that was created during the burglary is consistent with the motive of revenge.

“Generally career burglars have an ‘M.O.’ of how they get into a home and what they take,” Muelken said. “What makes this case so unusual is the extent of the damage. With this type of damage, you could look more toward a teenaged offender versus a career burglar.”

Police are not aware of any burglaries with similarities to the Bastyr’s case, Muelken added.

“Often times through an investigation, detectives can match up similar types of crimes that may occur in neighboring cities,” he said. “But this one stands alone. The amount of damage done in this case was not necessary to complete the act of theft.”

Savage Police are actively investigating this case and following any and all leads. Call (952) 882-2600. Police are also offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of anyone involved in this case.

Successful surgery

The important thing through all of this is that Joel’s surgery was a success, Colleen said.

“At this point we have each other and that’s what matters,” she added. “We won’t let them bring us down. We won’t let them win.”

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com