‘What was taken is not replaceable’: Spokane couple targeted in home break-in

November 11, 2019 3:46 PM

Taylor Graham,

Posted: November 11, 2019 3:46 PM

Updated: May 20, 2021 11:59 AM

by Taylor Graham

SPOKANE, Wash. — Everywhere Katie and Jordan Hauritz look around their North Spokane home, they’re reminded of a horrifying discovery they made Friday night.

Katie had just gotten home from her mom’s house when she noticed the back gate was open. When she turned the corner, she saw the back door of their house had been kicked in.

“When she said the back door has been kicked in, my stomach just sank basically,” said Jordan, who was on the phone with Katie when she figured out they had been robbed.

Everywhere they look, they’re reminded of the person — or people — who stole their connections to friends and family who are gone.

“It’s the type of thing that when you look at it, it reminds you of that person and you get that feeling of them again,” Katie said. “And I loved that.”

She said she and Jordan found that feeling in pretty much everything that was taken from them Friday.

“Once we finally started walking through and realizing what was taken, it was heartbreaking,” Jordan said. “It’s just sad that everything that’s been taken is basically something that meant so much to us because it’s from family and friends that have passed on.”

For Katie, it was a string of her grandmother’s pearls that she wore in her bouquet for her wedding with Jordan.

“What was taken is not replaceable,” Katie said. “It’s just sad to think that somebody has to be in that desperate of a place — that they feel like they have to break into someone’s house and take things.”

Jordan came into their room to find a small silver skull with rhinestones had been taken.

“A friend from high school that sadly committed suicide a long time ago — his ashes were in there,” he said.

His grandfather’s military dog tags were also stolen.

“I feel honestly, completely heartbroken. I don’t have a lot of things from my grandparents and that was the one thing he gave me and I’ve kept it around my neck for over 15 years,” Jordan said. “My chain just recently broke and I put it on my bedside table to go buy another one. And now it’s gone.”

“What was taken is not replaceable.”

Katie and Jordan Hauritz are hoping someone can connect them with her grandmother’s pearls she had on her wedding day, a necklace Jordan got her, and his grandpa’s military dog tags, similar to those below. (Wedding photos: Matt Shumate) pic.twitter.com/f6mC4RbtVh

— Taylor Graham (@TaylorKXLY) November 11, 2019

Those items — along with Jordan’s medication, a coin necklace he had given to Katie, and two cameras — were likely taken by someone who doesn’t understand just how much those items from those people meant to this couple. But Katie believes the person who stole those reminders cannot take away the feeling that came with them and the memories of the people who gave them to her and Jordan.

“Having those items taken, for me, is a reminder that that doesn’t mean that my memories with that person is taken or that feeling is taken,” Katie said. “I can still get that back.”