Sparks police say they might not have been able to crack a burglary case open had it not been for a curious neighbor who helped lead them to the suspects.

A woman living in the 1000 block of Caboose Court was just minding her business Wednesday afternoon, when all of a sudden she noticed something unusual.

She says she only wants us to refer to her as "Mary" because she's afraid that someone might retaliate against her. And after watching a group of high school students break into two of her neighbor's homes, it's easy to understand why Mary is so cautious.

"I called 911 when I saw them in the backyard," said Mary. "And so I was giving the dispatcher a play-by-play of what was going on."

Within minutes, officers were on scene, chasing three suspects from house-to-house.

"I was absolutely terrified," said Mary. "I have high blood pressure and it affected me because I was running from one room to the other trying to keep an eye on those boys."

Eventually, police arrested the suspects, who they've already connected with at least two other burglaries in the neighborhood. Sergeant John Franz says Mary's watchful eye gave officers the break they were looking for.

"Really, she is the one who broke the case for us," said Sergeant Franz. "If she doesn't give us the phone call and give us the direction of the people involved and the description of them, there's a good chance cases like these go unsolved."

But Mary says she doesn't feel like she did anything extraordinary. In fact, she expects any other good neighbor to do the same thing.

"I was happy that I was home," said Mary. "That I was able to do a neighborhood watch and some people might say it's being a nosy neighbor, I think it's being a cautious neighbor. Officers say if it hadn't been for Mary, the burglary probably wouldn't have been discovered until the homeowner returned from work some five hours later."