Three Women Track Down Burglars, Find Them Wearing Stolen Clothes

Coming home to a ransacked apartment is devastating, but three Christchurch women turned their burglary into a story of courage and quick thinking.

Sarah Campbell, 28, her sister Anna, 25, and flatmate Charlotte Walker, 25, returned from work Tuesday evening to find their Waltham flat completely turned over. Cameras, laptops, passports, jewelry, clothes, underwear, and even frozen curry had vanished.

The police arrived quickly, but the women couldn't just sit and wait. Anna needed her passport back urgently for an upcoming family trip overseas.

A neighbor gave them the crucial lead they needed. Someone with pink hair had been spotted pushing a shopping trolley loaded with items from their house in a specific direction.

Within an hour of starting their search, the flatmates found a shopping trolley outside a nearby property. The door was wide open, and then they saw her: a woman walking out wearing Charlotte's jacket and shoes, with Anna's jewelry on her fingers.

The trio followed the woman down the street, filming as they went, and calmly asked her to remove their belongings. Then they entered the house she'd come from.

Inside, two men sat surrounded by the flatmates' possessions scattered everywhere like a bizarre yard sale. One man was looking through their underwear.

"We didn't think. We just acted," Walker said. The women stayed remarkably calm, talking their way through the situation instead of letting anger take over.

They began loading their belongings back into a shopping trolley. By the time police arrived for the second call, the women had already recovered most of their stolen items themselves.

Sunny's Take

The three women, all in New Zealand on working holiday visas from Europe, have been overwhelmed by community support since the incident. Friends and colleagues helped them clean their home and get things back in order.

Their humor stayed intact throughout the ordeal. "They may take our frozen curry but they will never take our passion for justice," Anna joked.

Police arrested one person for receiving stolen property and are searching for others involved. The women's quick action and neighbor tips helped officers seize additional suspected stolen items from the property.

Only one item remains missing: a pair of yellow Crocs that the women hope will turn up somewhere in Christchurch.

Sometimes the best response to injustice is three determined women, a shopping trolley, and the courage to take action.