Springfield, IL (WAND) – It was just a regular night for Daisy Jane’s owner, Julia Johnson, until she got a call from her daughter.
“I really thought she was kidding me, thinking she could wake me up to a call like that,” Johnson said. “But then she started crying.”
Her daughter got a notification from a security camera inside the building, showing a man inside the store for under a minute. While he was inside, he stole the cash register and knocked over several displays.
“Someone had thrown a brick through our front door, through the glass and came in and very quickly walked around, grabbed the money box, walked back,” Johnson said. “You just wonder with the speed with which he came in, went right to the box and disconnected everything if he’d been in before.”
Johnson has owned Daisy Jane’s for 10 years, which has been at the store’s current location next to the Old State Capitol. She’s never once worried about the building’s safety.
While the thief only took the cash register, Johnson said it was an emotional experience for her and her daughter.
“I tell my customers this is my happy place … my daughter and I work here, and she brings her baby in with her … we have the three of us here every day,” Johnson said. “So it has to be a safe place for us, and it makes me angry that somebody stepped over that line.”
When she posted on social media that the store would be closed until they could replace the door, support came flooding in. Johnson said people were calling and messaging her, saying they would help clean up and get the store back up and running.
“It’s really, really nice,” Johnson said. “We know we have great customers, so it’s not really surprising, but it is very touching.”
Johnson said the police collected evidence from the scene and fingerprints. She also gave them the video from the security camera. They located her missing cash box, but not the money from inside.
She thinks the same man who broke into her store broke into Custom Cup, a cafe a couple blocks away. The Springfield Police Department did not confirm if they have any suspects.
