I was thinking of gating it, not tearing down the trees....But you probably don't have an association to make that happen, given the age of the neighborhood. I babysat there a few times, and it was really scary with the trees in the back and the French doors. I thought for sure someone would be coming in.
I suppose it might be possible to gate that particular section, but as you say, I don't believe there is the type of homeowners association that could effect that, nor would it be particularly practical - possible - but difficult to effect in that particular area.
Am I right in thinking they didn't have a security system, given the fact that the Mom stumbled onto the scene rather than being notified?
There is a lot of information swirling out there - my information has been that there was a system, but it was not armed.
I know there are some residents who are extremely wealthy (vs. doing well)...I heard one of my Highlands classmates 30+ years ago brought in Picassos for show and tell. That was pretty extreme.
I was surprised when I went on Mapquest that the neighborhood extended to Plainfield...I always thought that was a different neighborhood, as I believe that end goes to Hinsdale Central. There is a bike path that will take you to the Hindsale Oasis...but they likely just came out on to Wolf Road and went back on the tollway (or Joliet Road to 55).
IHP annexed several of the unicorporated Highlands neighborhoods (i.e. Acacia) several years ago. The area where this happened is the original subdivision, bounded by Plainfield to the N., Wolf to the east, Joliet Rd to the south and 294 to the West. Beautiful area. As for the school districts - 294 is roughly the boundary now (used to be County Line) with every thing east going to LT and West of it to Central - all that area with exception of one street along the Joliet rd boundary goes to Highlands - that street goes to Pleasantdale.
Because of where the house is he could have made any number of routes out of the neighborhood
It bugs me how stupid are these crooks to rob a neighborhood in broad daylight after school hours. It's reckless enough to make me think they're looking for money for drugs rather than a well organized robbery gang. Do you think they're stupid enough to use I-Pass?
That certainly makes sense to me - many homes in the area were burgled this summer, but arrests have been made - several years ago we had some burglaries in the LG area and surrounding that were drug related. The IHP burglaries seemed to be loosley organized and opportunistic for the reasons you note - access to a quick getaway via 294 or 55 - with some nicer homes to choose from. As for the daylight - the hour surprised me because of the "after school" activity in the area. I hope they used I pass - but either way, I'm sure the task force is looking at all toll records.
Is IHP well-staffed enough police-wise to deal with this situation?
We have very good friends living in Ash (brook, I think- haha we still call it Par 3-loved that course!). Sounds like your mom lives in my old neck of the woods (we moved from that home in the late 70s).