Family of man whose Heights home was burglarized after his deaths says duo 'disrespected our family'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A family is looking for answers after the home of their dead loved one was broken into and ransacked days after his death.

It's a case the Houston Police Department confirms they're looking into.

HPD officials said the property and financial crime division will take the lead on this investigation.

The family of Jeremy Heith Rainey told ABC13 a laundry list of his belongings that were stolen from his home, like his TV, lawnmower, tools, jewelry, and even medication.

"Be compassionate because we lost a loved one, and three days later, people are breaking into his home," Rainey's niece, Madilynn Perez, said.

Ten days ago, Perez and her family got a call that her uncle Rainey had died from a heart attack.

"To know him is to love him," Perez said.

Rainey was described as a light. Perez said he had recently moved into a new home in the Heights. His family lived out of Houston.

Perez said that within days of Rainey's death, a duo they didn't recognize was captured on surveillance cameras pulling into Rainey's driveway. They're accused of walking to the back of the home and breaking in.

The two are seen on camera going back and forth before the woman ultimately picks up the camera and puts it face down on the ground.

Minutes later, the surveillance camera captures the man loading things into the truck. The pair were then seen again on camera at about 3 a.m., still inside the home and going through drawers.

"Knowing that he passed away. Knowing that he's gone. And knowing that (we), as a family, are coping with that, and they just choose to go into the house and disrespect it and disrespect him and disrespect our family," Perez said.

The family realized the home had been burglarized when they stopped in days later to start picking up Rainey's things, and his TV was missing. In confusion, they looked further.

"Then we went to his storage in the back, and it was completely ransacked. Things were missing, and we just didn't understand what was going on," Perez said.

They believe whoever did this must have been someone who knew him.

But so far, they've been unable to identify the two people.

The heartbroken family is working through grief and will try to wrap their heads around why someone would steal from the dead.

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