A Southside couple is the victim of a nasty crime, possibly because of the stand they've taken against neighborhood criminals.

Home is usually a welcome sight when you return from vacation.
Not in this case.

"To completely destroy everything that's in the room, I mean you would not have believed when you walked in, the kids were afraid that when we walked in, either my husband or I would have a heart attack, because of the amount of tragedy that was in here," says homeowner Ruth Ann Bauhs.

While Jack and Ruth Ann Bauhs were vacationing in Florida, someone was burglarizing and ransacking their Sequoia Trail home--tearing pictures from walls, dumping juice into computers, causing more than $40,000 worth of damage.

Ruth Ann says, "Even the Police officer said he's never seen anything as demolished as it was in here."

"Jack had a bottle of brandy up in the cupboard that was 20 years old, they took that, I hope they got sick."

Six years ago, the couple started a neighborhood walk program to keep an eye on drug dealers and prostitution ... the Bauhs and Police think someone might have been trying to get even.