Opinion ID: 1363760
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Cox Burglary.

Text: About 5:45 a.m. September 27, 1983, Helen Cox noticed that five dollars she had left on a downstairs table, before retiring to bed the previous evening, was missing. Later, she found evidence that the paint on her back door had been scraped near the latch. Her son noticed that the back door bore pry marks, apparently from a screwdriver, and that the back screen door had been propped open. That evening, the Coxes determined that a total of seven dollars was missing. As stated above, the Coxes' neighbor, Gary Faulkner, on the same morning, had noticed a car parked next door to the Cox house which closely corresponded with the description of Caminade's car. While the car was present, shortly before the money was missed in the Cox house, Faulkner heard sounds from the Cox house which the fact finder might conclude emanated from a breaking and entry. Caminade's admissions to the police placed him in the Cox neighborhood, committing burglaries, within a range of days which included the date of the offense. The circumstances surrounding the offense were consistent in all respects with Caminade's admitted modus operandi. The foregoing combination of direct and circumstantial evidence was more than sufficient to prove both corpus delicti and criminal agency. It furnishes adequate support for the conviction.