VIDOR, Texas — The Vidor Police Department is crediting high-definition surveillance cameras and social media for helping them quickly solve a crime.
Police say on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, a man and woman were caught on camera breaking into a storage unit at Moore's Mini Storage in Vidor.
The photos of the suspects were posted on Facebook and in just three hours, the suspects were identified.
The suspects even offered to return the stolen stuff, which included $2,000 worth of PS4 games, a stereo system, $800 worth of fine china, a Shark vacuum, Easter decorations and more.
"Nothing that I've owned has ever been broken into and to have the community come together and help us figure who the suspects were, it truly means a lot to me," storage unit owner Kylie Andreu tells 12News.
Andreu received a call Wednesday afternoon from the storage facility saying thieves attempted to break into multiple storages units, one belonging to Andreu.
"I went up their watched the surveillance cameras and sure enough it was my stuff getting drug out of the storage unit," she said.
When Andreu posted the photos of the suspect on Facebook, more than 100 people commented helping to identify the pair.
"They really were very surprised at the people that did it and then I've had the mother of the people reach out to me and stuff like that and they're apologizing to me on their behalf and I really accept that," Andreu said.
Andreu says some of her belongings have been returned, but she still wants to press charges.
"The male suspect is actually the one that's been communicating with us 100% and he has actually recovered all of the items mainly for us. It is the female that is not wanting to corporate at all. She still has more of our belongings," Andreu said.
Vidor Police says this all remains under investigation, but really credit the high-quality photos with helping crack this case.
"The real help in this case was that the storage facility had good surveillance for us to use. When looking for storage facilities that can be one of the things that should be a big consideration," said Vidor Police Detective Sergeant Tom Meadows.