PALM COAST, Fla. -- It was October 5th in Palm Coast, just after 3pm. Tom Kane, 71, had just laid down for a nap when his wife approached him in a panic. "She walked up to me very close and she said, 'Tom, someone's in the house. Get your gun.'"
He grabbed his gun, headed to a back bedroom, and kicked open the door. "The door flew open, and I just went right down because I was expecting him to be shooting back."
But when he opened the door, the room was empty. The burglar had come in through the bathroom window and escaped through the bedroom window. "He jumped right though that screen," said Mr. Kane.
He called police and immediately began looking at the surveillance video taken by cameras mounted on his home. It clearly shows a woman police have identified as Carmen Kilgore, walk up to the front door and ring the door bell. When no one answered, she walked away.
Moments later, her partner, who police say is William Fulkerson, was seen walking around the side of the house. Then, running away carrying a black box.
Mr. Kane said, "I had my wallet there, my passport. And I think there was $1,200 in cash."
With surveillance video in hand, Flagler County police knew who to look for. Then Monday, deputies spotted the couple's black SUV. They say the couple made a run for it, leading police on a chase north on U.S. 1 until police popped their tires. The SUV skidded to a halt in South St. Johns County.
Fulkerson and Kilgore were taken to jail. And while in custody, police say Kilgore admitted the couple had burglarized at least 24 homes in Volusia, Flagler, and St. Johns counties.
Action News asked Flagler County Chief Deputy David O'Brien, "Sounds like they were just living off of other people. Is that what they were doing?"
He replied, "Yeah, pretty much. They would steal the stuff, burglarize a home, and then take it up to St. Johns back where they were living. And then they would give it to somebody who would sell it to somebody else. And that's how they would make their money."
Mr. Kane says he's happy the couple's tri-county crime spree is over. He's just surprised they got away with it so many times. "I can't believe how lucky these people were," he said. He never got his stuff back.
Investigators in the three counties are still tallying up the charges against Fulkerson and Kilgore. So far, they're each charged with burglary and eluding police.
Police say Wilkerson lives in St. Augustine. They say Carmen Kilgore was a homeless woman he befriended.
