An Ansonia man charged in eight summer break-ins in Ansonia and Derby admitted burglarizing several of the homes, telling police after his arrest that he would walk through yards looking for unlocked windows and doors, steal electronics, then sell them in New York City.
The suspect, 21-year-old Davon Miller, allegedly crept into homes while residents slept inside.
Victims of the spree included an 81-year-old Ansonia woman who was woken up as her home was being burglarized and Nancy Valentine, a former mayor who currently serves as the Republican Registrar of Voters.
Valentine recounted the Aug. 19 burglary at her Farrel Drive home during a phone interview Wednesday, recalling how shaken she was when she and her husband discovered their home had been broken into that morning.
Her story explains why so many residents on the Hilltop were on edge this summer. The crimes eventually led to the creation of a neighborhood watch.
’We Were Home’
“We were home. We were here,” Valentine said.
She said she woke up in the middle of the night because she felt ill, and as she walked down the hallway of her home noticed a door to her guest bedroom open.
Valentine said she usually keeps all the doors in her home closed, but didn’t think much of it as she went back to bed.
She was woken up later that morning by her husband asking if she had left the back door to the home open.
She had not.
The couple then discovered some of their money scattered on the floor, as well as a laptop missing.
Valentine said the burglar took more than just cash and electronics — even a half-gallon of orange juice from her refrigerator was gone.
“They went upstairs, downstairs, everywhere,” she said.
Police believe Miller got into the house through an unlocked window, according to an arrest warrant written by Ansonia Detective John Rafalowski.
“I must have opened the window at some point to get fresh air or do something,” Valentine said. “That’s the only window in the house that was unlocked.”
She said she and her neighbors have become more vigilant since the burglaries.
“It’s disheartening,” Valentine said. “I’m glad they finally got him. It really did have everybody distressed. You change your lifestyle a little bit and that’s kind of sad.”
Miller faces charges of first-degree burglary and fifth-degree larceny in the case.
Other Cases
In another case, an 81-year-old Reservoir Drive woman told police she had been asleep the night of Aug. 11 when she was awoken “by a light shining into her bedroom.”
The woman got out of bed to see a person running down the hall away from her bedroom.
The person had rummaged through a dresser and a jewelry box in a spare bedroom, she told police.
The suspect made off with some coins and a cell phone.
Cops determined the burglar got into the house through an unlocked window left open the night before.
Miller was apprehended by cops after a foot chase Sept. 2.
During an interview after his arrest, he admitted to breaking into the 81-year-old woman’s house and another break-in on Birchwood Drive, but did not admit being involved in the other burglaries.
The warrants say Rafalowski then traced items found at Miller’s Hodge Avenue home back to the burglaries reported by residents.
All told, Miller now faces:
- five counts of first-degree burglary;
- three counts of sixth-degree larceny;
- two counts each of attempted first-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief, and fifth-degree larceny; and
- single counts of third-degree burglary and fourth-degree larceny.
He has pleaded not guilty in the cases, and is due back at Superior Court in Milford March 8.
He is being held on bonds totaling $510,000 at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.
January Break-Ins
Meanwhile, police are investigating two daytime burglaries reported in January in the area of Highland Avenue, Beverly Drive, and Wesbter Drive.
Ansonia Police Lt. Andrew Cota said that police investigating the January break-ins expect to submit arrest warrants in the case for a judge’s signature soon.
There have been no other break-ins reported in the area, Cota said.
