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Couple return from honeymoon to find home ransacked

TACOMA, Wash. — As Sarah and Anthony Kleist enjoyed their honeymoon in Mexico, they got a call to come home. Their house had been broken into and ransacked by burglars. The Kleists rushed back to their residence in south Tacoma on April 22 to find a 600-pound safe they had purchased just before the trip was one of the items missing. “We thought nobody would be able to get it out of the house, but sure enough, they came and took it,” said Sarah Kleist.

The Kleists bought the huge safe just before their honeymoon trip to Cancun, replacing a smaller floor safe that held the couple’s valuables and personal documents. Sarah Kleist said she left items in the safe rather than risk taking them with her to a foreign country. “Wedding ring, my engagement ring, a couple of other pieces of jewelry, everything,” said Kleist. The safe also head the couple’s Social Security cards, birth certificates and other important documents. The burglars apparently took it out a back door of the home to a waiting truck. Police discovered the thieves even turned surveillance cameras trained on the couple’s backyard away from the area they were working as they took items out of the home. Computers, other pieces of jewelry and even clothing were also stolen.

While Tacoma police have yet to identify suspects in the case, the Kleists said neighbors have been able to provide detectives with information about an SUV seen in the neighborhood prior to the break in.  It is described as a Chevrolet Suburban built between 1988 and 1996 with the words Gran Prix on the front doors and a stripe to the back of the vehicle. The letters and the stripe are described as two tone bluish silver. Neighbors told the Kleists the SUV was spotted near their home, and that the driver drove away when one of them walked outside their home to see why the Suburban was parked near the residence.  “They said the driver may have a dark mustache, early 20s, that’s all we really have”, said Kleist. Tacoma police are asking anyone with information on the Suburban to contact them.

The Kleists told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News that the burglars may not have figured out how to get inside the stolen safe. Bank records show several credit cards left locked inside have not been used more than a week after the burglary.