Wildlife Camera Captures Burglars At SE OKC Home

A burglary victim provided crucial evidence to Oklahoma City Police thanks to his home surveillance camera.

This is the latest example of how personal security systems have helped metro police in their investigations, even though Blayne Jewell originally bought his camera for wildlife.

Jewell has been hunting a prize buck in the 6300 block of Adobe and bought a trail camera to help out. The $189 camera uses a memory card and has night-vision, but the only things the camera has caught are burglars.

"I knew my camera was on and I checked it and there were two kids right there walking down my driveway," said Jewell.

Last month, Jewell came home and found his door kicked in.

"The door knob was busted off. The door is creased right there where they had kicked it, broke the door knob, broke the door jam," Jewell explained.

11/15/2013 Related Story: Security Camera Catches Two Me Burglarizing SE OKC Home

His camera has a motion detector, so Jewell knew exactly four minutes passed from the time the guys stepped onto his property to the time they left. The police report said one suspect appears to be holding a gun that's tucked into his pants. Luckily, the suspects did not steal anything.

"I've never had anyone break in before," Jewell said.

He handed the photos over to Oklahoma City Police, who said Friday that residential cameras have helped out in several cases.

"It's always helpful when people do have surveillance cameras, especially when they're of good quality, and we're able to release them to the public, oftentimes leading us to arresting a suspect," OCPD Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow said.

Jewell bought two more cameras after his burglary experience.

"A couple friends of mine got some just for security purposes after the pictures. I mean they're really good," Jewell added.

Jewell thought he recognized one of the suspects and police are looking into that tip. Anyone with information on the burglary is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (405) 235-7300.