A Connecticut schoolgirl’s sharp eye and artistic talent helped collar a burglar who’d broken into nearly a dozen houses, including the real-life Nancy Drew’s own!
The unlikely story began when cops knocked on the door of 11-year-old Rebecca DePietro’s house in suburban Stratford.
Local detectives were investigating a string of burglaries, including one at a home across the street, The National ENQUIRER has learned.
“They asked me if I had seen anyone strange or who didn’t belong, and I said, ‘I can draw him for you!’” Rebecca said. “I just knelt down here in the living room next to my bench and grabbed a pencil and took two or three minutes to draw the picture. Afterward, I figured (the detective) would just throw it away.”
But that’s not what happened. Instead, the detective faxed Rebecca’s sketch to other nearby departments.
The drawing led cops straight to Pedro Bruno, who was already in custody in nearby Fairfield for trying to rob an 82-year-old man with a toy gun after breaking into his home.
Bruno, a 32-year-old from Bridgeport, Conn., had refused to talk — until cops showed him Rebecca’s sketch, and told him they had a witness to his crimes.
Then, the creep sang like a canary — proving a little girl’s pencil is mightier than a cop’s baton!
Though cops didn’t find anything from Rebecca’s house, “they went into his apartment and recovered many stolen items,” said her proud dad, Paul.
