In Little Silver: Point Rd. Family Targeted by Burglars Twice in a Week

resident Farley Boyle had a bad week last week.

It started out happy enough: She and her husband and three girls drove up to Lake Placid, NY on Saturday, July 7 for a summer getaway. But by the following Wednesday, after her husband Pat returned home early from vacation, she got news that two of their flat screen televisions were missing.

It wasn't until Boyle returned home on July 12, the next day, that they discovered that they were also missing jewelry and other electronic equipment totaling about $35,000.

"Little Silver is not the Mayberry we think it is," Boyle told Little Silver - Oceanport Patch on Monday.

Then this past weekend, Boyle was awakened at around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 15 by the persistent barking of her dog, Tank. She ran and looked out a window overlooking the driveway and saw what she described as a tall man with an athletic build holding a flashlight and trying to break into her husband's pickup truck.

She said she started screaming and the perpetrator bolted back down the driveway and headed west down Point Road and Boyle's husband and dog -- an aptly-named English Bulldog -- ran outside in pursuit.

In the meantime, Boyle tried to call the police. "I called 4-1-1 instead of 9-1-1," she said, "twice."

A Little Silver patrol car was in the area and raced over and pulled onto Point Road and turned on his floodlights to prevent anyone from leaving the area unseen. Officers from the Monmouth County Sheriff's Department also arrived with a K-9 unit and the officers continued to search until about 3:15 a.m.

In the end, Pat's black, F350 Ford pick up -- with a broken window -- was towed by police and no suspect was apprehended and police say the matter is under investigation.

While the Boyles where away earlier in the week, they had hired someone to stay at their house through Tuesday while they were gone. That long-time sitter returned to the house a few times during the day to bring in deliveries shipped to Boyle for her new children's swimsuit business.

When Boyle's husband returned from the trip on Wednesday night, one of the first things she said he noticed after settling in at home was that the doors to the television cabinet were closed, which was unusual. "He opened them and found a hole where the 46-inch TV used to be," she said.

Little Silver Police Chief Daniel Shaffery said that the department is investigating the incident but that the Boyle's burglary isn't consistent with the string of daytime break ins in town earlier this year. "It appears to be an isolated incident," said Shaffery.

Boyle said that the recent incidents are in addition to other thefts that have occurred in the 10 years she's lived on Point Road, including two other car break ins, vandalism and an attempted car theft. "There are a lot of question marks," she said.

Anyone with any information regarding either of the two incidents can contact Det. Gary Oliva at (732) 747-5900.