Young Woman Sought In Rash Of Burglaries In Rye

RYE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A potentially dangerous woman has been entering strangers' homes in Rye, and in the most recent incident, a mother came face-to-face with her in a staircase.

As CBS2's Lou Young reported, it is presumed the thief is a local and she seems to fit right in, roaming the yards of suburbia in search of unlocked doors.

"Oh my God, that's kind of shocking," said Lise Godvin of Rye, "and I never lock my door!"

The intrusions are quick in-and-out jobs, in Rye on Harbor Lane, Riverside View Drive, and Oakland Beach Avenue.

"This is very unusual," said Rye Police Commissioner Michael Corcoran. "It's very unusual for burglars to enter a home when someone is home, particularly daylight hours."

The latest burglary happened at 6 a.m. Tuesday. The homeowner confronted the intruder on the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, and for the first time, someone got a look at her.

She is described as a young woman standing all of 5-foot-4 and weighing about 125 pounds. She had a long, blond ponytail peeking out of the back of a white baseball cap.

The woman wore a white sweatshirt and at close range seemed disheveled.

Police think she may be a young opioid addict.

"That's a possible route we're going to definitely explore," Corcoran said.

"The heroin thing -- it sort of fits in with what you hear," said Godvin.

The town has had its share of problems in the use of hard drugs. As many as six recent Rye High School graduates perished from overdoses while at college in recent years.

Diana Page, a new resident, said the problem caught her by surprise.

"It does surprise me that there's a heroin problem and a drug problem here, but the more I read about it, the more I see that it's really taken hold in a lot of communities around here," Page said.

Police said they are pursuing leads, and residents in the affluent community need to take common sense precautions.

"Lock up your property and always lock your vehicles," Corcoran said.

The thief seems to be interested in anything portable – smartphones, wallets, and cash.