PROVO — Car vandals worked quickly in Wednesday morning's darkness to smash through windows of 73 cars on a 1.75 mile stretch across Provo's east side.
"I'm so frustrated," Emily Christensen said about her damaged car. "I don't need this right now."
Christensen woke up in her Belmont condominium to a call from her distressed roommate, who said the roommate's car had been damaged overnight, with windows smashed, the interior destroyed and a radio torn out of the dashboard.
Christensen soon discovered, though, that her car also had been broken into —
along with 44 more around her condominium.
After shattering Christensen's windows, the thieves stole three iPods and other valuables.
"Everything was gone," Christensen said.
The string of vandalisms and burglaries followed a nearly straight east-west line from the Belmont condos near Seven Peaks Water Park to the 600 North and University Avenue area. The route can be driven in 6 1/2 minutes, but the vandals took the time to hit six dozen vehicles at four major areas sometime between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
"This was a mixture of both," Provo Police Capt. Cliff Argyle said. "A lot of vandalism, some vehicle burglaries."
Police said they started receiving a rush of calls around 6 a.m.
"It really is (sad)," said Argyle. "Because replacing windows on any vehicle is just outrageous."
The burglars stole stereos out of many cars but inexplicably left stereos and other valuables in many other damaged vehicles. Argyle called the indiscriminate way vandals raided cars "acts of senseless and malicious damage."
"A lot of these vehicles were damaged just for the mere intent of causing damage," he said.
Provo Police Sgt. DeVon Jensen said he wouldn't be surprised if it's the same group of vandals that hit 40 vehicles in a similar fashion in Orem last week at a student apartment complex. "They'll go from town to town and then hit a bunch of pawn shops," he said.
Police have made no arrests and say they have no suspects at this time. "But detectives are hot on this one," Jensen said. "They want to get these guys pretty bad."
Making a tough investigation tougher, police say they know of no witnesses to the 73 hits. Jensen said the group probably used a common window punch that can be purchased at various locations. "They're very quick and very quiet — that's probably why no one heard it going on."
Car damage tally
300 North block of Belmont Place — 45
0-100 East block of 600 North — 11
500 East block of 555 North — 11
500 North block of University Avenue — 6
Police do not distinguish between vandalism and burglaries
Source: Provo police
Contributing: Steve Landeen