Shocking twist in Texas 'she-cave' heist as burglar contacts local paper to complain that $1M in jewels and designer goods stolen from socialite are FAKE

Houston Press was contacted by the alleged burglar saying that Theresa Roemer's stolen valuables were actually worthless

The newspaper received a package containing 10-15 items from socialite's collection, including a locket allegedly containing her dead son's hair

Mrs Roemer was contacted last week by the burglar, who demanded $500,000 for her items - and for the thief's silence about their true value



Authorities say what appears to be a professional thief spent 40 minutes removing items from Theresa Roemer's massive closet August 2



Surveillance footage recorded a small man dressed entirely in white and wearing gloves in the house

Roemer and her husband were away from home at dinner only 90 minutes

The dramatic heist of nearly $1million in designer bags, jewelry and furs from the 3,000-square-foot closet of a suburban Houston socialite has taken a strange media twist possibly involving a failed ransom plot.

A person claiming to be the housebreaker sent several of the stolen items to a weekly newspaper, claiming that they were fake and therefore worthless.

The valuables were stolen August 2 from a closet in the palatial home of Theresa Roemer, who uses the room dubbed in the media the ‘she-cave’ for charity fundraisers.

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Ransom plot: The bracelet and watch were among some 10-15 valuables stolen earlier this month from the home of Theresa Roemer

Personal memento: The loot included this silver heart-shaped locket with a lock of light-brown hair inside that supposedly belonged to Roemer's deceased son

Shakedown: The burglar allegedly asked Roemer to pay up $500,000 to stop him or her from revealing to the media that her valuables were worthless, but the former Miss Texas refused

The alleged burglar also spoke to a reporter with the Houston Press through a voice modulator, making it difficult to tell whether the person is a man or a woman.

The suspect called from a disposable cell phone with a New York City area code and claimed he or she was not in Texas.

Craig Malisow, the Houston Press reporter, said he first talked to the suspect Tuesday and later received a large brown envelope covered with stamps filled with about 10 to 15 items of jewelry and a man's watch.

The loot also included a silver heart-shaped locket with a lock of light-brown hair inside. Ms Roemer had previously told the press that the burglar got away with a necklace containing a strand of hair belonging to her 19-year-old son, Michael, who was killed in a car crash in 2006.

‘It was kind of odd,’ Malisow said, of his conversations with the purported burglar. ‘It sounded like he felt like he was wronged - because when he went to go fence this stuff, he was allegedly told this was fake ... it kind of felt like he was the victim here.’

According to the Houston Press, the burglar had requested more than $500,000 from Roemer to return the stolen items and not tell reporters that they were allegedly cheap knockoffs.

Police have released security camera footage showing the thief who robbed former Mrs. Texas United America of nearly $1 million in jewelry, bags, and valuables from her luxurious 'she cave'

Surveillance footage recorded a small man dressed entirely in white and wearing gloves in the house, taking four trips to move all the goods outside

‘The deal never went through. I'm following through with my threat,’ the alleged thief said on the call recorded by the paper.

Roemer confirmed to the Houston Chronicle the suspected burglar contacted her August 6, demanding half a million dollars.

‘He tried to hold me ransom for my stuff,’ she said.

At first Roemer thought she was the target of a cruel joke, so as a test she asked the caller to send her a photo of her $80,000 raw emerald and diamond ring resting on the front page of the day’s newspaper.

Houston Press reporter Craig Malisow spoke to the suspected thief, who called from a disposable cell phone and used a voice modulator

The alleged thief complied with her request, which left the woman ‘freaked out.’

Roemer and authorities believe recent TV and magazine publicity about her three-story dream storeroom filled with treasures attracted the burglar to her mansion in The Woodlands.

In surveillance video of the burglary, an intruder, wearing a jump suit and a hoodie, broke in through a bathroom window. The video shows he made four trips over 40 minutes, filling designer luggage with loot.

Roemer said she believed that because of the media's coverage, the burglar was unable to pawn the items.

‘He never anticipated my [burglary] going viral - but because the closet went viral, the burglary went viral,’ she said.

The glamorous socialite disputed the burglar’s claim that her possessions were fake, but conceded that not all the items in her collection ‘is a million-dollar design.’

‘It's like any person's closet. You mix and match. In my closet, I have a Donna Karan dress next to one from the Gap,’ Roemer told the site CultureMap.

Over the last week Roemer received ‘numerous’ calls from the alleged burglar.

‘This person is just bound and determined to just keep bothering me,’ the blonde former Miss Texas said.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigators have retrieved the items sent to the newspaper.

Roemer said she used the space to host charity events and that it took her a whole 45 minutes to get ready

‘We're trying to identify whoever sent these items in,’ said sheriff's office Lt. Brady Fitzgerald.

Theresa Roemer said she and her husband were only gone 90 minutes for dinner at a country club just two blocks away, but came home to broken glass and empty shelves. The robbery bears all the markings of being perpetrated by a professional thief.



In the video footage, released last Tuesday by police, the burglar is seen wearing a light-colored, hooded jump suit with a baseball cap which helps him blend into the background as he expertly picks through items in Roemer's astonishing three-story, 3,000-square-foot closet.



Deputies have determined that the intruder forced his way into the Roemers' home through a bathroom window.



Surveillance footage recorded a small man dressed entirely in white and wearing gloves in the house, taking four trips to move all the goods outside.

The burglary occurred between 7pm and 11pm on a Friday and the suspect spent almost an hour inside, carrying items back outside.



Police have released the video in an attempt to generate leads about the theft, which happened less than two weeks after Roemer's closet had been featured on Good Morning America.



Happier times: Theresa Roemer's massive 'she-cave' housed a fortune's worth of expensive handbags, watches, shoes and other baubles

Cleaned out: What's likely a professional thief made off with nearly a million dollar's worth of Roemer's possessions

Roemer told the Houston Chronicle that the video was shot with an infrared camera, because the intruder worked in the dark and never turned on the light.

'That's why it is so unclear and we can't tell the exact color of his clothing,' she said.



Roemer has admitted that she and her husband failed to turn on their home's security system before heading out to dinner on August 2. She also didn't lock the glass door to her prized 'she-cave'.

'I don't think anybody can go through life without doing something careless when they're flustered and hurried before leaving,' she told the Chronicle.



'But now I lock all my doors and have lights on, inside and out. The alarm is set, and I'm having more lights and cameras installed.'

Roemer said that because she was only away from her home a short while she did not arm the security system

Roemer said she and her husband were only away for 90 minutes to eat dinner at a nearby country club

'They took everything,' Roemer said. 'They took all my jewelry, all my watch collections, my husband’s watch collections, my Birkin collection. They literally walked out with between $800,000 and a million dollars’ worth of stuff.'

The most expensive items taken included 10 Rolex watches, up to a dozen Chanel watches, Cartier watches, and other expensive baubles and accessories.

'I feel violated… raped,' she said. 'To watch someone on film take everything out of your house that means much to you – it’s just wrong.'

She may have been targeted due to the recent media attention on her 3,000sq ft closet, called her 'she-cave.'

Theresa Roemer, a former Miss Texas United America, enlisted designer Thom Anderson to add the luxurious three-story space to her Woodlands, Texas, home, which houses her handbags, shoes and other accoutrements. It cost roughly $500,000 to build.



'It started years ago when I had a closet party and all the girls came over and they said, "I just wish it was bigger,"' she told the Houston Chronicle, adding: 'Since then it's just been getting bigger and bigger and bigger, it's like a ''she cave.''

It appears the thief gained entrance by using a glass cutter to get into the bathroom

Violated: Roemer has compared the break in to feeling of being 'raped'

'The third floor houses all my furs and big hats, you come down the spiral staircase to the second floor which is where I get my hair and make up done, it also houses all the shoes from Louis Vuitton and Gucci, to my tennis and work out gear,' she said.

'Then you come down a floating staircase, which is just magical, and the first floor is where you pick out your jewelry and bags,' she continued, noting that it typically takes her 45 minutes to get ready.

In fact, the closet even features a champagne bar - perfect for hosting events to benefit charitable causes.



'Yes, it’s full of amazing things,' Mrs Roemer she had told Houston’s KHOU, 'but this closet was built and intended for fundraising.'

Roemer has used the hot-ticket space to raise money for causes such as the American Heart Foundation and Texas Children's Hospital.

But it also serves the style needs of those close to Mrs Roemer.

The thief target high-end items like Rolex and Cartier watches

'My daughter always says that she doesn’t need to go to the store; she can just shop my closet!' she told Neiman Marcus's blog.



'And of course I do let a few, very special friends borrow my Birkin bags.'

Upon learning her sanctum had been violated, she tried to put things in some perspective.



June was the seventh anniversary of her son's death in a car accident in Wyoming.

'I need to count my blessings that no one was hurt or killed,' Roemer said. 'I’ve been through amazingly hard things in life, like burying my son, and this is not anything compared to that.'