A WWII Vet isn't the only victim in a series of home-break ins off Olive
and Willow Streets , in Fresno.
More neighbors are speaking to us tonight about nearly coming face to face
with the suspects.
Detectives say the suspects they arrested are teenagers, as
young as twelve years old.
CBS47's Lemor Abrams is live at the Fresno Sheriff's Dept. with
the latest on the suspects and their victims.
In this South Central Fresno neighborhood, longtime homeowners rake their
lawns, and parents take their kids out on bike rides.
But behind the security doors... seniors are now on guard in their own homes.
"Every time I leave and come back...I'm kind of leery," said a 78-year old
woman.
This 78-year old woman, who doesn't want to be identified, believes the three
teens accused of robbing and brutally attacking WWII Veteran Joseph
Martin...burglarized her a week before.
"I guess they came in through the back," the woman said.
They stole $600 in coins that sat next to the fireplace for decades,
and bank statements.
But worse, they took the engagement ring she wears in her wedding photo.
She had it for 55 years, almost as long as she's lived in this house.
And cherished it with her life after her husband died of cancer.
"We lived in the house 54 years, a year after we got engaged," she said.
She says she was locked out of the garage that day, but more eerie than
that...weeks before her house was hit...she spotted three kids going door to
door...and stopped at the house across the street.
"That same evening I was outside watering, one of the teenagers said they
were robbed that day," she said.
Detectives say two fifteen year-olds and a twelve year-old are responsible
for knocking on doors, making sure no one's home, and breaking-in.
The teen suspects went to at least three homes the day they chose to rob
91-year old Josef Martin's.
This 78-year old woman considers herself lucky.
"I consider myself very lucky for not being home," she
says.