Grinch steals Detroit family's Christmas

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A real life Grinch who stole Christmas. He left  tracks in the snow in a backyard on Avon near 7 Mile and the Southfield Freeway, in Northwest Detroit. During mid-morning Friday, a guy working alone burst through the back door and cleared out gifts under the Christmas tree. Those gifts were intended for Angela Williams 13 and 9-year-old sons.

"Oh I had a new cell phone for my baby, a Galaxy 7 we had some more games for the Play Station 4 they had shoes, clothes, tablets, all types of little kiddie stuff" said Williams


"They broke in and stole all the kids Christmas,"

Keith Johnson, Angela William's fiancé arrived home 15 minutes before noon.

"Got back, the door is kicked in and everything's missing. I had a gate pulled up and it’s usually locked with a chain. It was off and it was open. So I was scared to go in the house for a minute. I did a lot of yelling and screaming and then I went in and saw everything missing."

After the 911 call to report the break-in, Detroit Police responded, but it took five hours. With the bad guy gone it was not considered a dangerous scene. It was classified “Priority 3.” During the day, police responded the many Priority 1 and 2 calls. They arrived on Avon by 5:00 p.m.

Neighbors told police they saw a man near the house in the morning, but didn't think there was anything wrong.

"They said it was a heavy set kind of guy. He was a little tall,” said Williams. “He had a brown jacket, black pants and some kind of gym shoes - Air Force Ones or something. He was in a black car between an Impala or a Cadillac.”

So who's the Grinch who stole Christmas for this family?  Call Detroit Police or Crime Stoppers and you're anonymous at 1-800-SPEAKUP.