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Tuesday, Jul. 21, 2009

All is lost in Perryville house break-in, arson

Police look for answers in burglary, arson of Perryville home

State police are asking for the public's help to find out who burglarized and torched a Perryville couple's home on Thursday afternoon.

Harold and Helen Pike lost everything.

While they were at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, someone broke into their home on Old Springfield Road and took pain medicine, knives, guns, wedding rings, checks and stamps, said Nancie Pike, the couple's daughter-in-law.

Then, she said, the thieves tried to start a fire in a mattress, a couch and two other places in the home. The house didn't burn to the ground, but its contents were destroyed, Nancie Pike said.

"Everything had been charred," she said. "Everything's just black."

She said the family thinks the crime was committed by someone who doesn't know them. There are no other houses within view of the home, so it might have been it an easy target, she said.

For now, she said, her in-laws are staying at her home.

"They've got a lot to do," she said.

State police issued a press release Monday asking for help in locating "an older, faded blue minivan" that was seen in the area just before the fire was reported. The driver was a white man between ages 40 and 50.

Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 1-800-222-5555.