South Bend police investigate burglary after woman dies

“You can see that one over by that lamp post. So if they’re on the other end they had to see them leaving,” said Dave Williams.

A family in the middle of mourning their sisters’ death is also trying to piece together who stole her belongings.

“My sister passed away on Thursday. No sooner than her body was taken, before it even got to the morgue, she was preyed upon in her own apartment,” said Williams.

71-year-old Therese Williams died of natural causes Thursday in her Karl King apartment in South Bend according to the county coroner. But within hours of the coroner leaving, the family suspects someone else got in.

“She was missing a TV, some small amount of cash, a bank card, and her car keys. So when my brother got here, we started taking pictures,” said Williams.

Pictures for every spot that used to have something in its place or so they thought.

“Upon leaving, we took pictures of the car, afraid, since the car keys were missing that they would come back and take the car. Sure enough, that night, it was taken,” said Williams.

The family immediately filed a police report and now, South Bend police are investigating. The family says staff at Karl King apartments are aware of the issue and have since changed the lock. But Dave, one of 9 siblings, and the younger brother to Therese Williams says it only adds more heartbreak to their situation and they’re hoping to prevent this from happening to other families.

“She was 10 years older than me. My mom had to work two jobs and then at age 13 she had to basically raise us so… it was like losing another mom and it’s upsetting. I’d hate to have this happen to somebody else because it is very very frustrating, its just downright sad… to prey on the dead like that,” Williams.

We reached out to Karl King Tower apartments Friday during normal hours but have still not heard back. At this time a detective has been assigned to the case and is conducting interviews.