Homeowner confronts burglars after they cook meal, use bathrooms in house

WHITESTOWN, Ind. (WISH) – A homeowner had a scary surprise when she got home from work.

Two people had broken in Thursday and they were still there as she walked inside.

Diana Sove is a welcoming person — just make sure she invites in you in first, something her last two guests didn’t realize.

“I was scared first but then I got mad,” she said. “I mean, I could take both of them. You come in my house, really? Really?”

She’s talking about Roberto Pacheco and Gaudalupe Milian-Tinoco, two burglars caught in the act by this fiery 64-year-old. She said the duo froze up and never said a word. She’s not sure if they knew how to speak English on top of being frightened.

“I blew up. I said, ‘Get out, get out!’ So I just kind of pushed them out there, I was so angry,” she explained.

But well before she did that, the unwanted visitors made themselves at home starting with a meal.

“They took the chips out. They had bottles all over the place; in fact, this is one of them that are left,” she said, pointing to an empty water bottle. Her dishwasher was filled with the plates and pans they used.

She said they also took a bathroom break, showing us the empty pack of cigarettes she found in the trash next the toilet. “I left [the pack] in case we needed it, I don’t smoke,” she said.

She said the suspects also rummaged through several bedrooms and closets. They took jewelry but skipped by some of her expensive electronics like a Kindle.

“I was worried that they did something to my dog,” she said. “Because I would have killed them, I don’t care.” Her dog was fine, but Sove noticed the pet’s water bowl and bed had been moved out to the back patio. She said police told her the suspects did that in order to keep the dog occupied as they went throughout the house.

After getting them out of the house, she said she called police and investigators said she wasn’t the only person to pick up a phone. Whitestown Police said they got several calls throughout the day from neighbors reporting that suspicious people were walking up to the back doors and windows of homes to see if they were unlocked.

The two suspects got in Sove’s house by taking out a window screen and hopping through.

“But they acted like I was intruding in their party,” Sove said.

If that’s the case, they picked the wrong place to host it.

“I think God helped me that I didn’t squeeze [her throat] and kill her, because I wanted to,” Sove Said. “My house, you’re in my house.”

Sove and other neighbors said they recognized Pacheco and Milian-Tinoco. They said they saw the pair working for a roofing company as they repaired a home next door. Police said the two also broke into a neighbor’s car. They both face several charges including residential entry, burglary, unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and theft.

Police suggest that if a homeowner confronts a burglar in his or her home, the homeowner should immediately leave and call 911.