Real life mystery. Got any ideas?
By spalladino
@spalladino (17891)
United States
July 31, 2008 8:31am CST
Last night as I was on my way home from work and my husband was on his way back from a doctor's appt. at the V.A., we decided to meet at the little bar in our one horse town and have a drink with my husband's brother. The parking lot is small so I parked my truck in the grass, directly behind my brother-in-law's truck, which was in the parking spot. The grassy area is the usual overflow parking area.
About an hour later we left and, when I got into my truck, I noticed that the top and bottom of the passenger's side window looked frosty, but we live in Florida so it wasn't frost, it was spider webbed (cracked). The center was still clear and intact. I called my husband on the nextel before he pulled out (he wasn't parked close to me) and when he opened the door the glass fell out everywhere.
On the surface this would seem like a simple case of someone hitting the window with something but there's more......
On the inside of the driver's side door there was a lot of residue, on the window and on the arm rest area where the buttons are. It was brownish in color and powdery. After my husband, the police officer, the owner of the bar and who knows who else was finsihed touching it and it was all wiped away I noticed that there were several tiny spots on the inside of that door that looked like they had been burned or had been hit with something. There is definitely damage to the area just above the door handle.
Additional information that you may need to know is that I usually lock my doors, my purse was under the driver's seat but not so far under that it couldn't be seen and all of my cash and credit cards were still there. I also had a hand held electronic game on the front seat and a CVS bag with a carton of cigarettes in it, all of which were still where I had left them.
The truck started right up and was running fine when my husband drove it home so, as far as we know, nothing blew up but we're not auto mechanics so maybe something did??? 
Anyone had any ideas about this mystery?
Anyone had any ideas about this mystery?3 people like this
9 responses
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
31 Jul 08
The key to the mystery is probably the 'frost'. If something was used to freeze the glass or door lock to make them brittle and subject to breakage, the 'frost' would not be around for long in FL this time of year. How about you interupted a robbery of your vehical where someone used some kind of spray to freeze the glass or lock so as to break it? The fact the frost was still there indicates to me the wannabe theif just left.
1 person likes this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
31 Jul 08
OOPs... then I did not read close enough and my theory about the frost not evaporating is wrong. Still, it could be you aborted a robbery attempt by coming out when you did. That still explains quite a bit.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
31 Jul 08
Yep, it could be. Either way I still have my stuff and my 17 year old is spreading the word that something happened to her mom's truck last night. Since this is a small town maybe someone will accidentally say something that will get back to my daughter through the teenage grapevine.
Not that I'm itching to have anyone arrested...I'd just like to know what happened and have someone else pay for replacing that window other than myself.
Not that I'm itching to have anyone arrested...I'd just like to know what happened and have someone else pay for replacing that window other than myself.
@PuriStThunDerwRath (40)
• Philippines
31 Jul 08
maybe that might be the cause ... but consider the weather? is it really freezing that night to make the window that brittle? hmm... not sure bout that!
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
31 Jul 08
LOL...yes, that's who I need. I mentioned to the cop last night that I wish I had the phone number of the CSI Miami folks since we're in Florida. Too bad they're only make believe...they'd have it figured out in under an hour. I'll let you know if I ever get to the bottom of it.
1 person likes this
@Barbietre (1438)
• United States
31 Jul 08
Wow, I would have asked the police to analyise the substance found. I wunder if someone sprayed it with a freezing compund, but then if they were trying to get in the purse wold have been gone unless they got spooked. Maybe some "airplane junk fell from the sky. No joke stranger things have happened.
By the way I never leave my purse in the car, it is always with me.
1 person likes this
@Munchkin547 (2778)
•
31 Jul 08
that;s really wierd! i have no idea what could have caused this but it's certainly an interesting story! are the police going to investigate it to try and find out what happened?
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
31 Jul 08
No, we're a small county with little resources so the officer had me fill out a report and that was it. He didn't even take a sample of that residue...probably because we don't have a crime lab so it would have to be sent out, costing the county money over a broken window.
1 person likes this
@Munchkin547 (2778)
•
31 Jul 08
that's not good but i suppose i can see their thinking behind it! what does your husband think about it all, have you guys thought up any possible causes for it?
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
31 Jul 08
I suspected last night that someone set off a cherry bomb or a similar explosive while inside of my truck but, like I said, there were things inside that I would think they would have taken if someone was in there. I had a lot of cash in my wallet and it was still where I left it. My husband isn't big on mysteries...he just told me to drive his truck to work today and he'll get the window fixed.
1 person likes this
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
1 Aug 08
Hi, Spalladino!
I had a similar situation a couple of years ago, while I was putting gas in the tak. My rear windshield exploded. Everyone at the pumps around me did as I did -- dived under the cars. Nothing happened, so I came out carefully, and grabbed my cell to call the police. Being in Miami, my first thought was that somebody shot out my window. The police officer thought so, too, so the real-life CSI guys were called to the scene. After very detailed testing and investigating, they determined that the heat caused the window to break, and the powdery residue was proof that the car needed a wash!
When I contacted the people in charge of such things at Honda, they told me it had happened several times in hot climates, and I could take the car in for a free replacement. It turned out that they didn't leave any "give" in the frame around the window, and it needed space forexpansion and contraction for extreme weather.
I hope yiur trip to the Twilight Zone will turn out as benign!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
1 Aug 08
hi I think you probably interupted someone using a cold device to break your windowsso they could steal the pick up and they would take everything with them but you must have been heard and they ran off before you could see them. that would account for thefronst on thewindow and the odd spotting. I think you were
really lucky that you got out there when you did and the crooks were probably not too bright either.
@bournecaindelta (2477)
• India
1 Aug 08
Well, I think you got back to the truck in the nick of time to save your stuff. They must have been waiting for someone to park their vehicle at that place so that they can take the stuff away, or maybe they just looked around to find a vehicle which had some stuff worth stealing in it. And they decided to do it on yours because as you said, your purse was visible even though it was under the driver's seat, and you had some stuff on the dashboard. They might have been trying to get through by trying to break the glass without making much noise. And you came just seconds before they succeeded.
bourne
