New details have emerged regarding the recent burglaries on Jan. 27, and residents can help crack the case now that a possible description has become available.  

A witness told police that he saw a man exiting a home in the 5300 block of Carol Street while carrying a laptop on Jan. 27 around 12:30 p.m. The alleged suspect then entered a vehicle with a woman sitting in the driver's seat, the report said. About three hours later, police received a call from the homeowners saying their home had just been burglarized.

(Click here to see which homes were burglarized)

The alleged culprit was described as a Hispanic male, in his twenties, with a thin build and neatly dressed. The vehicle was described as a black, newer model Ford - possibly an Escort or Fusion. The driver of the vehicle was described as an older woman wearing a head scarf, according to police reports.

Detectives also noticed a pattern in all five of the home burglaries. In several  instances, homes with a half-glass-half-wooden door were targeted. The burglar would smash the glass and unlock the door, police said.

Mother nature plays a role

According to police reports, "Footwear impressions were observed in the snow and mud at the scene that were similar to footwear impressions left at the scene of several other residential burglaries reported to the Skokie Police Department on Jan. 27."

Evidence technicians were able to capture shoe prints left in the snow and mud from the robber, police said.

"Typically in the snow they take a picture of the shoe impression," said Skokie officer Joe Marzigliano. He added that evidence technicians also cast the impressions by using something similar to a "bottle of hair spray," which allows officers to pull away the sample of the shoe print and bring it back to the lab.

"Nothing is confirmed, because a lot of those footprints could be from the residents," he added.

Mayor weighs in

Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen addressed the recent robberies during the Caucus party's annual business meeting on Monday.

“I think it was either last week or the week before, I think there was a rash of burglaries in Glencoe, Glenview and Winnetka," Van Dusen said. "We believe it was probably the same gang.

“A year ago in January we had a big spike in home burglaries. By the middle of February our police had figured out how who did it," he added. "It was a couple of different gangs from outside the village. We ended the year with less residential burglaries than the previous year. We’ve been steadily going down in residential burglaries. But we do have them.”

Police are encouraging residents to report any suspicious vehicles in the neighborhood. Callers can remain anonymous, police said.

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