This is the fourth, last part of a series.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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Nikita Whitlock moved his family into their Moonachie home in about July 2016. On September 15, he was suspended from the NY Giants football team, where he was a fullback, for ten games after he was caught using performance-enhancing drugs. The ten-game suspension would cost him $204,705 in expected salary.
At some point during the family's Moonachie residence, two other people moved in -- Nikita's sister and a downstairs roommate (sex unknown). Perhaps these two roommates were taken in to help pay the rent. The only White person living in the household (Nikita's wife Ashley is Black) was the downstairs roommate (the graffiti in the roommate's bedroom said NIGGER LOVER).
Shortly before Thanksgiving 2016, the Whitlocks decided to move out of their Moonachie home. If they had a normal year-long lease, however, they would lose their security deposit, which normally is at least one month's rent. At the worst, they would have to continue to pay rent until a new renter moved in.
During the Thanksgiving weekend -- Thursday November 24 through Sunday November 27 -- Whitlock perceived that an attempted break-in had happened at his home. When he and his son returned home from seeing a movie, they saw that a side door had been damaged. Specifically, the door included a window that was cracked, and metal wiring embedded in the window glass was mangled.
Later Whitlock learned that some packages had been delivered at the home and then had disappeared during the movie outing. The packages were the only items that disappeared during this incident, and so the break-in seemed to be unsuccessful.
Since packages normally are not delivered on holidays and weekends, this attempted break-in happened probably on Friday or Saturday, November 25 or 26.
Whitlock indicated that only he and his son went to the movie. Therefore the circumstances indicate that the other four inhabitants -- Nikita's wife, baby, sister and downstairs roommate -- were gone from the home during the package delivery and the subsequent noisy attempted break-in.
The time of the attempted break-in could be determined as happening between 1) the package delivery and 2) the time when the movie ended. Since the son was only six years old, the movie probably was a matinee or early-evening (not late-night) showing. Therefore the attempted break-in happened in the afternoon or early evening. The public has not been informed whether the attempted break-in was reported to the police or whether the police investigated it.
A plausible explanation of the attempted break-in would be that an opportunistic, thieving passer-by noticed that some packages had been left at the house's front door. He deduced that nobody was home, and so he stole the packages. He then tried to open the front door, which turned out to be locked. Because the front door was visible from the street, he went around the building and tried to break through a side door. He tried to break the side door's window so that he could reach through and unlock the door. He failed and left.
Another plausible explanation would be that the culprit was not a passer-by, but rather a person who was targeting that particular house. He knew who lived in the house, and perhaps he also knew that some particular valuables were located inside the house. He watched for an opportunity when all its inhabitants had gone away, apparently leaving the house empty. He was not able to break in on that occasion, so he departed with only the delivered packages that were outside. He returned on December 6 and entered some other way.
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Then the actual break-in and vandalism happened on the evening of Tuesday, December 6, between 6:30 and 8:45, while the Whitlocks' were eating out. The sister and downstairs roommate must have been gone during that time too.
Although a rainstorm had been forecast and although rain had begun to fall by 6;30, Whitlock did not take along an umbrella for the outing. When they returned home at 8:45, rain was pouring down. Whitlock left his family in the car, and he and another, unidentified person went into the home to fetch an umbrella. When Whitlock opened the door, however, he saw a swastika drawn on an inside wall. Whitlock and the other person immediately walked back to the car, and he reported the break-in to the police. Then the police investigated the home for about four hours until they allowed him to enter the home.
After he entered the home, he was able to ascertain that some jewelry and a video game system were missing. This was described as only "a few items". Other valuables, such as a laptop computer, remained.
During the following hours, Whitlock hung bedsheets over the graffiti so that his son would not see the graffiti. However, a bedsheet was not hung over the NIGGER LOVER graffiti in the bedroom of the downstairs roommate -- presumably because the son never went into that room.
On Wednesday morning, Whitlock showed the vandalism to Andrew Wyrich, a reporter for the local Record newspaper. Wyrich filmed the graffiti. Later that day Wyrich wrote an article that mentioned the damaged side door's window, giving readers the impression that this particular damage was related to the break-in that happened on December 6. Wyrich did not report how the culprit entered the home.
Later on Wednesday, however, CBS2 News broadcast a video in which Whitlock showed that a small window had been completely cut or broken out. Whitlock explained that "we think they started here and then worked their way around to the other door". Presumably, the culprit entered through the broken window and then unlocked a door from the inside.
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ESPN reported that "a representative for Whitlock told ESPN's Josina Anderson that the player's previous residence was also burglarized", and other statements indicated that the family experienced two break-ins during a period of six months (not merely ten days). If indeed there were two actual break-ins at the beginning and end of a six-month period, then a hypothetical time-line for the year 2016 would be as follows:
* June = Actual break-in at the pre-Moonachie home
* July = Move into the Moonachie home, signing one-year lease
* September = Ten-game suspension = loss of $200,000 expected income
* October = Sister and downstairs roommate move in
* Right before Thanksgiving = Whitilocks decide to move out of Moonachie home
* Thanksgiving Weekend = Attempted break-in
* December 6 = Break-in and racist vandalism
* Late December = Whitlocks allowed to move out early with full security deposit
Most of that timeline is mere speculation based on sketchy statements. Only the attempted break-in during the Thanksgiving weekend and the actual break-in on December 6 are based on good information.
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During roughly the first half of 2016, Whitlock was using performance-enhancing drugs. He was caught and suspended during (it seems) the summer. He certainly stopped using the drugs, but perhaps he continued to keep a valuable supply of the drugs and intended to sell them. Perhaps an acquaintance knew about those drugs and broke into steal them. The acquaintance drew the graffiti so that Whitlock would not suspect the acquaintance.
Whitlock has told reporters that jewelry and video game systems disappeared from his home during the December break-in. The public has not been given any idea of the value of the missing items,. nor whether they were insured.
If an acquaintance broke in to steal the drugs, he might have taken the jewelry and game stuff to create a false impression that the culprit was a random burglar. Really, the acquaintance wanted only in the drugs, but he did not want to be suspected by Whitlock, and so he also took other stuff and wrote racist graffiti. By writing NIGGER LOVER in that downstairs bedroom, the acquaintance unintentionally revealed that he knew that this particular bedroom was inhabited by a White person.
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The racist vandalism happened on December 6, 2016. As I write this article on January 28, 2017, there have been no other such incidents. Before December 6, there was no other such incident. Such a racism vandalism has happened only in one home -- the home of Nikita Whitlock.
There is no racist Trump supporter going around and breaking into ethnic minorities' homes and writing racist graffiti on their inside walls -- in Moonachie or anywhere else.
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Following are sources for particular details.
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http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/giants-nikita-whitlock-burglars-defaced-home-swastika-racist-message-120816
Whitlock suspended for ten games in September for using performance-enhancing drugs. The burglar entered through a window and stole jewelry and a video game system. The second break-in in the last six months.
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http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/12/07/giants-player-home-vandalized/
Burglar entered through a small window. The Whitlocks decided before Thanksgiving to move out of their Moonachie home.
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http://abc7ny.com/sports/suspended-giants-fb-whitlock-burglars-left-swastika-kkk/1645342/
The Whitlock's previous home was burglarized. The ten-game suspension cost $204,705.
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http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2016/12/giants_players_neighbors_expected_drive-by_shootin.html
Sister and downstairs roommate (NIGGER LOVER). During Thanksgiving weekend, went to movie with son, side door's window cracked and packages taken. On December 6, only a few items were stolen. Family had decided before Thanksgiving to move out.
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