'Most blatant': thieves trash driver's SUV, return it, and steal second car from driveway

In what may be one of the most brazen home burglaries in recent memory, a 63-year-old Queanbeyan woman was left bewildered after thieves allegedly broke into her home, stole the keys to all three of her family's vehicles, and swapped one stolen car for another. After driving off in Carolyn Paris's SUV, the intruders returned the trashed vehicle to her street only to allegedly drive off in the family's second car. The shaken victim has since placed a steering wheel lock on her third vehicle, as the burglars are still in possession of the keys. The incident unfolded on the evening of September 1, 2026, when Ms Paris went to bed early after feeling under the weather. She woke up the following morning to discover the keys to all three of the family's cars were missing from the dining table. "I came out to find my [Mitsubishi] Pajero parked on the road with the wheels completely muddy," Ms Paris recalled. It was only when she looked over at her driveway that the full picture began to emerge. "My Subaru was missing," the retired public servant said. "It is most blatant. They returned the car, locked it, and took the keys before taking the second one." Grainy CCTV footage captured from a neighbour's house in the early hours of September 2 appears to show two individuals parking what looks like Ms Paris's SUV. The figures can then be seen pushing the family's silver Subaru Forester off the driveway and onto the road before driving away. "There was a hammer in the passenger seat of the Pajero, and my trolley from the boot was missing. It's very perplexing what they were up to," she said. Ms Paris promptly rang the police. "Officers from Queanbeyan Police Station were here in 10 minutes and carried out forensic examinations. They were amazing." Fearing the offenders might return for the third car, Ms Paris was forced to shell out more than $800 to replace the locks across her vehicles and to fix damage to her SUV. In the days following the break-in, she and her partner repeatedly drove around Queanbeyan and parts of Canberra hoping to locate their missing 2007 Subaru Forester. Their surprise break came on Saturday night when a resident contacted Ms Paris to report that a matching Subaru was parked at a unit complex on Broughton Place in Queanbeyan. "She sent me a photo of the rego to confirm. I rang the police and they confirmed at about 3am that they had towed the car away," Ms Paris said. Police investigations into the break-in and car thefts are ongoing.