FITCHBURG, Mass. (AP) – A day after a fire destroyed much of Rebecca Foster’s apartment, burglars broke in and stole everything that wasn’t damaged in the blaze, she said.

The five-alarm fire struck the Fitchburg triple-decker on Saturday night. Foster, her boyfriend, William Welch, and their 1-year-old daughter, Zaryanna, were left homeless. The couple had lived in the apartment only a month.

The next day robbers struck, kicking open a back door to the third-floor apartment. Among the items reported stolen: a 20-inch television set and DVD player, as well as food from the kitchen cabinets.

“They even stole the baby’s crackers,” Foster said. “They emptied everything out of the drawers in the bureau … It was disgusting before, but now it’s totally awful.”

A neighbor reported seeing a group of six young men carrying speakers and other electrical equipment out of the apartment.

“I saw them carrying it,” neighbor Sune Vilavong said. “I thought they were his friends.”

AP-ES-04-22-03 1641EDT


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