Ed and Susan lived in a middle-class neighborhood in Houston, Texas. Susan was a fourth grade teacher at her neighborhood elementary school. Ed worked for one of the major oil companies in Houston. Susan needed to be home all week, and Ed traveled a lot for her company. The neighborhood they lived in was wise, so they had never considered a home security system. The separation was difficult at times, but they did what they had to do to pay their bills. As a result, they made the most of every weekend they shared together.

Ed and Susan met in Austin while attending the University of Texas. They met on a Saturday night at a country and western bar in town. Her personalities had really clicked and Susan gave Ed her number when he walked her to her house. Ed was a bit shy, and although he was attracted to Susan, he was hesitant to call her. After a couple of weeks, he finally worked up the courage and invited her to dinner. She accepted her offer, they had a great time together and started seeing each other regularly.

Ed was from an upper class family and his father paid for his education and housing. Ed had found a job in Austin after graduation and he and Susan stayed there for a couple of years. Ed’s father continued to pay the housing bills and did not believe in premarital cohabitation, so Ed and Susan lived in separate apartments. Both buildings had 24-hour security, so they knew their belongings were always protected when they were out.

Ed quit his job and went to graduate school and Susan went with him. After graduating and after ten years of dating, she finally proposed to him. They got married and moved into his new house. Ed started working for the oil company and began to travel the country quite frequently. On the nights he was away, they always talked on the phone.

One week, Ed went to Lubbock, Texas for a three-day business trip. The second night he was watching TV in his hotel room and noticed that he was getting late and hadn’t talked to Susan. He tried to call the house and there was no answer. It was late for Susan to go out, but he thought she might have been out with a friend and lost track of time. After a couple of unanswered calls to his cell phone, Ed began to worry. He called her parents and her parents, but no one heard from her that day. He went to the airport, rented a car and started driving to Houston.

When he got to the house, it was early morning and his car was parked in the driveway. Something felt strange when she entered the house. He noticed that things were missing from the house. She really started to panic. He ran through the house looking for Susan. He found her at the base tied up and very scared. When she had calmed down, she explained what had happened.

Returning home from school, he entered the house to find two masked men gathering electronics, jewelry and anything else of value. She had started them and they quickly subdued her and put her in the basement. Ed was shocked and felt terrible for her. He realized that the neighborhood was not as safe as they thought.

Later that day he called and had a home security service installed at the house. She knew that she would still be traveling frequently for work and with the home security system she would feel much more comfortable leaving Susan home alone. The only thing she regretted was that they hadn’t hired a company before, so she Susan would never have had this ordeal.