SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — Their dreams turned into nightmares. It’s been less than 10 days since a couple closed on their South Salt Lake home. It has since been broken into and vandalized three times.

“It was really exciting because we’ve been looking for about a year. We’re so excited to get this,” resident Andrew Strong said.

He and his wife closed on their house and got the keys last Wednesday.

“I came back here on Friday to continue working on this issue and that’s when we noticed someone had broken into the garage and taken the mini fridge,” Andrew explained.

Their dreams and their home were shattered the following Tuesday. “I realized they had broken into the house and taken all my tools and smashed everything,” Andrew said.

He was working in construction and was renovating their new house himself. He said the tools he had been saving for 17 years were taken.

Windows were broken, wires were cut, parts of the stove were broken and scattered on the floor, shutters were removed, the toilet was smashed and the walls were damaged.

On Friday – 9 days after they locked themselves in their home, Andrew said someone broke in again. This was the third time. His family ran to help.

“My brother and his wife are devastated,” said Randi Strong, Andrew’s sister. “I can’t even put into words how this feels.”

Andrew told FOX 13 police are investigating and haven’t told them if they know who did it or if they have any leads.

“You definitely have to be in a dark place to do that to someone, I wish them the best,” Andrew said of the person or people who walked in. “Moving here was pointless. We don’t know what to do now.”

“Think of it as more of a sense of violation and security, but you can’t put a price on that,” Randi added. “We must strive to pass this, we must achieve this.”

And we are so grateful to everyone who supported them as they got through this.

“I’ve had a tremendous amount of support from my friends and family, it’s just overwhelming support. People care about it, people don’t want it to happen,” Andrew said.

If you want to help them, you can find a link to donate. Here.