BETSY LAYNE – The Family Dollar store at Betsy Layne was the target of burglary this past weekend after police said one or possibly two people gained entry into the store through an adjacent office building.

According to Kentucky State Police Det. Gary Sykes, who is investigating the break-in, the burglars entered the adjacent business, East Kentucky Physical Therapy, through a side door. Once inside, they broke through the wall joining the physical therapy offices and the Family Dollar.

“They busted through the wall with what appeared to have been a hammer of some kind, maybe a sledgehammer,” Sykes said. “The alarm didn’t go off and the manager didn’t know there had been a burglary until she came in the next morning.”

The hole busted in the wall was fairly sizable, Sykes said, adding that it was big enough for him to fit through during a walkthrough of the building shortly after the burglary, which took place after the store was closed at approximately 9:30 p.m.

Sykes said an undetermined amount of cash was taken from the cash registers and that the suspects apparently wandered throughout the store but left it mostly undisturbed.

“They went around to a few other areas in the store, but they knew exactly where the money was at,” Sykes said.

Earlier this year, a rash of burglaries and armed robberies cropped up throughout the county, but Sykes said this location had not been, to his knowledge, a target in the past.

Police have gathered evidence from the scene and say they are following a couple leads in the investigation, but Sykes said they were not close to making arrests in the case.

State police are asking anyone who may have information that could help lead to an arrest in the case to contact them at the Pikeville Post 9 at (606) 433-7711.