Purdue fraternity burglary a misunderstanding

A reported burglary Sunday at a Purdue University fraternity was all a misunderstanding, police said Monday.

Lt. Carrie Costello said two individuals — described as a male and female in their late 50s or early 60s — had permission to enter FarmHouse fraternity to take scrap items.

The building in the 1000 block of West State Street in West Lafayette is set to be demolished soon, making way for a new $6 million, 28,000-square-foot house, according to the chapter's website.

Costello declined to indicate who gave the individuals permission to enter the building, but she said the two took a laptop computer that wasn't actually up for grabs.

"The individuals were apparently granted permission to go into the fraternity to scrap, if you will, and not everybody was talking to everybody, so they took some items that were not up for scrapping," she said.

The computer was returned early Monday morning after the individuals, who Costello declined to identify, saw media reports indicating police were looking for them.

"They were really upset because they were under one impression," she said.

Costello said the investigation will remain open until she can return the item to the original owner.

"I haven't closed it out yet because I'm still waiting to return the property," she said.

Although the two individuals apparently had permission to enter the property, the building would have been easily accessible to anyone. Broken glass, junk and debris littered the ground outside the fraternity house Monday, while broken windows, torn drywall and spray paint tainted the exterior and interior walls.

Early Sunday morning, a witness called police to report loud banging and what sounded like glass breaking inside the house, according to a police incident report obtained Monday.

A responding officer also heard loud bangs, according to the report, before speaking with a fraternity member who said other members were inside the house.

Chad Harris, executive director of FarmHouse International Fraternity, and Alex Emenhiser, the current chapter president, were not available for comment Monday.