Odd story.
Stealing washers, dryers and refrigerators is generally too much work for burglars.
An acquaintance of mine went to check on his mothers house in Elizabeth, NJ as it had been vacant for several weeks after she had been recently hospitalized. He did a walk-through and everything looked fine.
Thought to wash his hands before he left, turned on the faucet and no water. Went to check the shut off valve and it was missing - and so was every piece of copper pipe in the house.
Nothing else of significant value was in the house because they had taken all of her jewelery as a precaution earlier. Strange.
Unoccuppied house, so they proably thought they had plenty of time, and the second "burgler" may have just been a prospective purchaser. Still, second hand washers and driers are pretty cheap in San Antonio. I've bought two dryers and a washer. Second dryer works great, although the first worked well for over 4 years, the washer is still going strong after 6 years. I bought 'em from a guy, with a storefront place of business, named Jesus, although he preffered "Jessie", as is common with native Tejanos.