A Longmont woman said she had her house ransacked by people who mistakenly thought it was the site of an estate sale that was actually happening a few houses away.

Mary Andrews said she left her home at 14 Texas Lane unlocked and came back on Friday morning to find people taking items from her house.

“There were cars everywhere, and there were people coming out of my house with armloads of stuff,” Andrews said. “I thought, ‘What is going on?'”

As it turns out, police told Andrews that it was a “very, very bad misunderstanding.” She said a house just a few doors down was having an estate sale, and somehow someone got into her house and began spreading the rumor that an estate sale was going on there and that everything was free.

Adding to the confusion, Andrews said she had recently had a yard sale, so she had some items strewn about on the law.

“They really did think this was the estate sale,” she said. “They all argued with me, and very few people would just put anything back.”

Despite the mix-up, Andrews said people should have found something odd about an estate sale where everything was being given away at no cost.

“They just ransacked the house so fast that it had to be because they knew this was not free,” she said. “They knew what they were doing. They had to have.”

Longmont police have closed the case because they do not have any suspect leads, according to a police report.

Andrews said neighbors told her that they saw crowds of people going through the house over the course of about an hour.

Andrews said she and her family are still trying to figure out exactly how much was taken from the home, which she shares with her two grandsons.

Everything from picture frames to jewelry to lamps and utensils were taken, while her grandson had a camera and a computer with school files taken. Andrews said someone even took her toilet paper and the toilet paper holder from the bathroom.

“Just everything they could put their hands on,” she said. “At least they didn’t take the dogs or cats.”

Andrews is hopeful people will return some of the items, but isn’t holding out hope.

“Every time I turn around, I notice something missing,” she said. “I turn around to turn on a lamp and the lamp is gone. It’s devastating.”

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars