LEWISTON — In many ways, it’s like mourning.

There they stood, alternately angry, depressed or defiant. They stood in front of their violated storage units, appreciating what was left, grieving for what was gone.

When Moore Self-Storage was burglarized overnight Wednesday, thieves took more than odds and ends to be turned around for a quick buck.

From a woman who identified herself as Miss Crabtree-Shaw, they took heirlooms passed along by distant relatives and trinkets made by children. Gone were the afghans she made for the elderly and hand-crafted things constructed by the children she helps.

“These are the losses that I mourn,” Crabtree-Shaw said. “It’s what those things stood for. It upsets me because I’m denied that now.”

At the next unit over, Jacqueline Stowe-Davis was taking inventory, trying to deduce how much was taken from her two units. It was grim. Gone were her husband’s comic books, his G.I Joes and Star Wars memorabilia.

Also taken were Santa Claus figurines Stowe-Davis collected from around the world.

“Those were very sentimental,” she said. “Some of them were my mom’s. They also took a couple music boxes, again sentimental. My husband died and I got them from him. Now they’re gone.”

At least half a dozen units were broken into. Police and business owner Gary Boilard were still trying to get a more exact count Thursday afternoon.

Boilard said some customers told him their units were entered but nothing was taken. Others lost several items.

Police are investigating, of course, and there are clues. It appears the thieves crept to the back of Moore Storage, which sets back from outer Lisbon Street — technically, it’s on tiny North Lisbon Road — by driving down a dead-end road and cutting through a small group of trees.

There are security cameras at the front of the business, but none at the back.

From there, the burglars went to work. They hacked through one padlock after another, hurling the ruined locks into the tall grass behind them. They moved from one storage unit to another, grabbing small, potentially valuable items while leaving bigger things, including winter tires and a snowblower, untouched.

“These people knew what they were doing,” Stowe-Davis said. “They knew what they were looking for.”

The business has no insurance that would cover the customers, she said. She wasn’t sure whether her homeowner’s policy would be any help.

She was mad, all right — mad because the business didn’t have better security and mad at herself for not using better locks.

Her husband, Glen Davis, was more specific in directing his anger. For 25 years, he’s been collecting a wide array of memorabilia and, just like that, it was gone.

“My comic books,” he said, just coming to the realization that those were among the missing. “They might not be worth a lot of money, but they were mine. It was my collection. I worked for these things.”

Gone from other units were antique rifles, jewelry, electronics and other things that might end up at a roadside flea market or on eBay.

Was the break-in the work of one desperate thief or of a larger ring of organized professionals?

Most of the victims lean toward the latter. Ultimately, Crabtree-Shaw said, it didn’t matter much. By the middle of the afternoon, she had gone from despair and anger to a quiet, philosophical mood.

“It shows the state of humanity,” she said. “There’s no trust. We live in a society where people don’t have respect for other people’s property. It’s the depravity. I know you’re going through hard times, but don’t resort to theft, burglary, vandalism. If you want something, ask for it.”

Stowe-Davis said Boilard called her Thursday morning to tell her about the break-in. He had called police, but Jacqueline wanted to speak with a pair of officers personally. Two officers showed up and took her information. By late Thursday afternoon, the investigation was underway.

“I don’t think I’ll ever see my stuff again, though,” she said.

She and Glen have been renting space at the storage facility for two years. They pay $85 a month, a deal they got because there wasn’t a larger unit available when they first arrived.

“We always felt safe here,” Glen Davis said. “Although, it was always in the back of my mind.”

Especially recently, as a spate of storage break-ins has vexed the area. It’s been happening in Lewiston and surrounding towns, police said, including Auburn, Minot and New Gloucester.

Davis went off Thursday afternoon to fetch some sturdier locks. Some of the units survived the burglary, he said, because they were fastened with locks too tough to cut. At least one such lock had been cut a little with a saw or other tool before the thieves gave up.

He came back with a couple of new locks, Master Lock Magnum, as it turns out, octagonal-shaped locks with carbide shackles.

“It will be hard to cut,” he said. “You can’t get a set of bolt cutters in there.”

He looked around at two years’ worth of property spilling out of his storage unit.

“Although, really,” he said. “There’s only so much you can do.”

Boilard said he has repositioned his surveillance cameras and has other ideas about how to improve security around his business.

Throughout her long afternoon on North Lisbon Road, Stowe-Davis said she heard some sad tales. By nature, customers of self-storage units tend to be people whose lives are in flux. Men and women recently divorced, people forced to leave their homes, widows and widowers.

Jacqueline spoke with one woman, recently divorced, who came out to collect items for a lawn sale only to find that most of her things were gone. Then there was the man who lost several antique guns.

“A lot of them were furious,” she said. “People are really bummed.”

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