Opinion ID: 1309317
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Stereo Store Burglary

Text: The sales manager at Beverly Stereo testified that on that same day, August 12, he locked the store at 6 p.m. or 6:15 p.m. and set the burglar alarm. At 8:05 p.m., a police officer received a radio call directing him to investigate the activation of a silent burglar alarm at Beverly Stereo that had apparently been reported by the alarm company. When he arrived at the store, the officer found all of the doors locked and observed nothing out of the ordinary; after investigating for five or ten minutes, he left. Several hours later, between 11 and 12 that night, the store's burglar alarm system again activated a signal at the alarm company's offices. The alarm was tripped and reset a number of times, indicating that someone was walking around the premises, opening and closing the store doors. The police were again notified, and this time the report of a possible burglary at the store was directed to the detectives who were investigating the Margulies' murders. The detectives went to the store where they were met by an employee from the alarm company who had keys to the building. There was no sign of a break-in or forced entry, but when the detectives entered with the alarm company employee it was evident that the store had been ransacked. A later inventory revealed that many pieces of stereo equipment had been taken from the store that night.