Move over, MacGyver. Back off, Bond. Call it quits, Columbo.
There’s a new breed of crime-fighting supersleuths on the case.
They live in a cul-de-sac near Mill Creek. They wear jeans and T-shirts. They go to high school and have homework. They play Xbox games and go snowboarding.
They also can catch a crook from thousands of miles away with a $20 Web camera, duct tape and a couple of computers.
Computer-savvy brothers David, 17, and Nathan Sundquist, 15, used a Web camera set up at their home to nab a neighbor who broke into their house while they were in Washington, D.C., recently.
“We’re weird,” Nathan Sundquist said.
“We’re nerds,” David Sundquist added.
The boys have been “plugged in” since elementary school. They chat with their friends online and play video games. David Sundquist manages a Web site for his junior class at Snohomish County Christian School.
“I like to take things apart,” he said. “I also code, write some programs and fix things.”
“I’m the one that breaks them,” his younger brother countered.
The brothers set up Web cameras around the house for fun. They have video chats with their friends and capture “moments for blackmail later,” Nathan Sundquist said.
They didn’t think about computer crime-fighting until recently.
The family suspected a neighbor had been in their house while they were in Hawaii a week before their trip to D.C. The neighbor, who stayed with the family last spring, denied it.
The family wasn’t convinced. The boys decided to hook up a Web camera from a Lego video-making kit to see for themselves.
David viewed the camera images from his laptop March 19 at a hotel in Washington, D.C. He noticed a video game cord on the floor that looked like it had been moved.
The boys couldn’t be sure. Or could they?
Nathan Sundquist used his laptop to switch on a home computer that was cued up to blare a song from Christian pop-punk band Reliant K.
The intruding neighbor raced out of Nathan’s bedroom to turn the music off. The $20 Web camera mounted on a shelf a few feet away caught it all.
“We got him,” David Sundquist said.
The boys’ parents called police from Washington, D.C., reporting that their 18-year-old neighbor was illegally in their home.
Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies descended on the house and used an intercom system to call to the neighbor to surrender. When there was no answer, they searched the house. The man was found hiding in a downstairs shower.
He was arrested for investigation of burglary.
The man had been asked to look after the family’s cats, but was instructed to stay out of the house, said Diane Sundquist, the boys’ mother.
The neighbor told police he’d brought a ladder from his parents’ home, climbed onto the roof and entered through a bedroom window.
Food wrappers and dishes were scattered around the house, but nothing of value was missing.
Diane Sundquist hesitated to call the police.
“I thought about calling his parents first, but it seemed like it was time for a wake-up call,” she said.
The neighbor has since apologized to the family and asked for their forgiveness. The Sundquists hope his time in jail will help him turn his life around.
“He shouldn’t have been in the house, but he’s not that bad of guy,” David Sundquist said.
As for a life of fighting crime, Nathan is considering crime-scene investigation. David would like to be a U.S. Navy SEAL.
For now, the sleuths are off to set up the sound system for a high school auction.
“I know, I’m a hard-core nerd,” David Sundquist said.
Diana Hefley is a reporter with The Herald in Everett.
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