Burglar hits Sonoma home of family killed in weekend crash

<p>Someone broke into the home of a Sonoma family killed in a weekend car crash, ransacking the place, stealing valuables and making off with a family car.</p><p>“It's just unbelievable that someone would prey on this grieving family and take memories from this one surviving child of her family,” said an outraged Nancy Pollock, family friend. “They ransacked the house and Aiden's and Graces' rooms.”</p><p>Outrage was evident in the neighborhood and in the halls of law enforcement agencies as the family home became a crime scene, even as extended family members made plans for a memorial service in Sonoma Friday.</p><p>“It's incredibly despicable,” Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett said. “It's such a tragic event for a family already suffering.”</p><p>The Maloneys, John, 45, Susan, 42, Aiden, 8 and Grace, 5, were killed Saturday night on their way home from a Thanksgiving vacation in Hawaii.</p><p>The burglars struck between midnight and dawn Tuesday, apparently getting in by forcing their way into the garage through a side door and kicking in a door into the home, said Sackett.</p><p>By the state of the ransacked rooms, the effort was extensive.</p><p>“It looked like they spent some considerable time there and there probably was more than one (burglar.)” Sackett said.</p><p>Police were alerted to the crime at 7 a.m. by a neighbor.</p><p>“I got up to get the paper and did a double take and saw the (garage) door was open,” said Chris Rowland.</p><p>He said he called another neighbor and confirmed that extended family members were not staying at the home. That's when he called police.</p><p>Officers went to the two-story Fryer Creek Drive home and found it had been torn apart.</p><p>Sackett declined to release details of the items taken, except for a family car, a 2006 silver Nissan 350z with California license plates 5XOH067.</p><p>Inside the open garage door early Tuesday afternoon, investigators dusted for prints amid items typical of any garage — hoola hoops, bicycles and a box of Halloween decorations.</p><p>Damage to the garage door into the home was evident below the knob.</p><p>“I can't imagine the amount of grieving and to have this happen, it's a crime of a magnitude hard to imagine,” said neighbor Henry Garcia. He and Rowland sat on a front porch Tuesday as officers finished up their work in the garage and put the door down.</p><p>Garcia said he'd gone into his backyard at about midnight because of the moonlight. He said the Maloneys' home next door was quiet and he didn't hear anything during the night.</p><p>At the home Tuesday afternoon a wreath, candles and red roses graced the front doorstep. A few neighbors sat on a front porch nearby as police technicians wrapped up their work.</p><p>John Maloney's daughter, Molly, 19, arrived at the home Tuesday afternoon with other family members. She was not with the family when they returned from Hawaii Saturday and were struck in an intersection on Highway 37. She said she was too distraught to talk about the loss of her family.</p><p>A family member, who declined to give her name, was at the house with Molly and said they were there to support each other and sort through some of the belongings in the home.</p><p>Sonoma police and Sonoma County sheriff's detectives issued an alert about the stolen car. Sackett asked anyone who sees it to contact Sonoma police at 996-3601.</p><p>At Prestwood Elementary School Tuesday, where the two children were students, teachers still were close to tears, said Linda Tiefenthal, interim principal. Students and teachers will be free to attend a memorial service for the Maloney family, now planned for Friday, 2 p.m., at the Sonoma Community Center.</p><p>Friends of the family have set up two memorial funds in the name of the John and Susan Maloney family.</p><p>Donations in their name may be made to benefit the Sonoma Community Center at 276 East Napa Street in Sonoma or to benefit Molly Maloney, John Maloney's surviving daughter, to the Exchange Bank at 435 West Napa Street, Sonoma.</p>