MY NEIGHBOR HAS BEEN STEALING MY MAIL AND OPENING MY PACKAGES

I first noticed something was wrong when my bank statement disappeared.

I didn’t think much of it.

Mail gets lost sometimes.

Then a replacement credit card never arrived.

A week later, an important insurance letter disappeared too.

That was when I started paying attention.

My mailbox wasn’t broken, and nobody else in my house had access to it.

Then I received a notification that one of my packages had been delivered.

I checked the porch.

Nothing.

The delivery photo clearly showed the package sitting outside my front door.

I asked my neighbor if she’d seen anything.

She immediately said no.

Something about her answer bothered me.

She answered too quickly.

The next week, I ordered something inexpensive specifically to test what was happening.

When the delivery notification came through, I was watching from inside my house.

My neighbor walked onto my porch.

She looked around.

Then she picked up my package and carried it into her garage.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I waited a few minutes before knocking on her door.

She opened it with my package sitting behind her.

She claimed she’d picked it up because she thought the delivery driver had left it at the wrong house.

I took the package and left.

But now I knew.

I installed a small security camera facing my porch.

Three days later, it happened again.

She took another package.

This time, the footage showed her opening it inside her garage.

I called the police.

When they spoke to her, she finally admitted she’d been taking my mail for months.

But then she gave me the strangest explanation.

She said she wasn’t stealing from me.

She was “checking” my mail because she was worried about me.

I asked what that meant.

She said she’d noticed bills arriving and thought I was hiding financial problems.

That was disturbing enough.

Then the police found a box in her garage.

Inside were dozens of envelopes.

Some belonged to me.

Some belonged to another neighbor.

There were also photographs of several houses on our street.

Apparently she’d been collecting people’s mail and personal information for years.

The final clue was the one that scared me most.

Among the papers was a handwritten list of names, addresses, and birthdays.

Mine was at the top.

I moved my mailbox, changed my locks, and installed cameras around the property.

My neighbor was charged.

But I still wonder how long she had been watching us before she ever touched that first package.