No suspects identified in burglary case

An unlocked door caused one student to experience an incident now under investigation by campus police.

On Sunday morning close to 5 a.m., MSU police officers were dispatched to Sunwatcher Village where one female resident and a female friend were asleep in their bedroom when an unknown male entered the unlocked apartment and laid down in the next to both of the victims.

According to the warning sent out by campus police the following morning, the suspect fled the scene when one of the victims woke up when he placed his hand on her leg. Police Chief Dan Williams said according to the victims, the suspect didn’t touch them in a sexual matter.

Once officers met with the victims and had them describe the subject, they thoroughly searched the apartment complex and the rest of the campus in hopes of finding the individual with no results.

“We’re continuing to look at some things to see if we can come up with possible suspects and hopefully can put together a line-up and see if the victims can pick them up,” Williams said.

Anytime an investigation does a photo line-up, Williams said, eyewitness testimony is not always the most accurate.

“With it being a dark room and dark at night, whether she got a really good look at his face or not is still yet to be determined,” he said. “We are hoping she did, but until we get some suspects together we won’t know that.”

William said it is hard to say whether the suspect was a fellow student based on the description of the victim.

“Talking to police chiefs from around the state, they see the same kind of thing of students not locking their doors,” Williams said. “It seems to be very prevalent here on this campus for whatever reason. The vast majority of all burglaries that we have in the dormitories have always included unlocked doors.”

Since becoming police chief in 2010, Williams said he doesn’t recall any burglary case that didn’t involve an unlocked door.

“Even though [students] feel like they are in a building with their peers, they never know what’s around the corner,” said Michael Mills, housing director. “Unfortunately, that’s the world that we live in today. It’s always good to take as much precaution as you can.”

According to Williams, MSU has seen 16 burglaries in the dorms and apartments, each one involving unlocked doors. Five or six of the 16 have occurred this semester.

“We want to let all of our residence know as soon as possible that this is out there and sometimes it comes with the bad press, but we would rather our students know what’s out there then let something like this happen again,” he said.

Mills said it is important for students, faculty and staff to know that they take all of these situations very seriously.

“Obviously I wish our students would be aware that sometimes when you leave your doors unlocked that we can’t control what happens. As a housing director that’s why we obviously like having buildings like Pierce Hall, Killingsworth and even Sundance Courts where we have a level of control of access.”

Mills said since Sunwatcher Village apartments allow students can walk straight to their doors, it does make it harder of housing to control what occurs.

“We want to encourage our residences to take as much precaution as they can,” Mills said. “In term of burglaries, it seems to be theft of opportunity, whether than force break-ins.”

There is a peak in burglaries, according to Mills, toward the end of the semester of individuals stealing textbooks during book buyback season.

There are not security cameras located on the inside of Sunwatcher Village. The cameras face the parking lot.

Williams said the department has to weigh the safety of the students versus personal privacy and the possible cost effect before thinking of obtaining additional security surveillance in the apartments and dorms.

“The problem you get into when you start putting cameras on people’s front doors is some privacy issues. Even though it is technically a public space, most people don’t want a camera on their front door for us as the university to see who is coming to their door all the time.”

If this suspect is identified and brought up on charges, Williams said he would be charge for the burglary, a second-degree felony, subject to two to 20 years in the state jail and up to a $10,000 fine.