A German fashion influencer has described a terrifying burglary she caught on camera which saw her apartment ransacked and her assistant tied up and threatened with knives.
Xenia Adonts, 33, took to YouTube to share the devastating story with her 82,000 subscribers after her Paris home was broken into by five robbers in a shocking three-hour-long burglary.
The social media star explained that on August 17, 2023, at around 4am, her boyfriend had noticed unusual activity on Adonts’ security camera.
‘I’m like what’s happening, and he said “they broke in”,’ she said.
‘I will never forget this feeling, I will never forget the way my heart raced, they way my breath stopped, I will never forget watching everything on video, seeing the mess of my phone, seeing the robber’s faces, seeing the smoke everywhere,’ she added.
‘And the chaos, it still sits in my bones’.
Xenia Adonts, 33, became the victim of burglary last year after five men broke into her home and stole jewellery and watches
The influencer took to YouTube to recall her horror story of when her apartment in Paris was ransacked last year
Adonts revealed the robbers had entered her home after climbing up scaffolding behind her building before descending the roof with a car jack – allowing them to smash through her front window.
The robbers ripped out a piece of her steel Parisian balcony which she said remains missing to this day.
After the apartment’s alarm and smoke system went off, the robbers were scared away but returned in ‘slightly different outfits’ a short while later.
Five robbers destroyed the influencer’s home – and Adonts shared footage of entire incident.
The group smashed holes in the wall, broke all the glass and mirrors, and ripped furniture apart, before storming out with suitcases and bags in hand.
‘But they also found my safe,’ Adonts said.
‘And they ripped it out of the wall, it must have been really heavy because I had all my diaries and journals in there… but I would have loved to see their faces when they open the safe and found a bunch of writings’.
Unfortunately, the social media star also watches and jewellery in the safe which the robbers had managed to escape with.
Nine hours after the crime had taken place, five police officers and three detectives appeared on the scene and took photos and fingerprints.
The robbery lasted a shocking three-hours-and-17-minutes, with Adonts’ neighbour telling police she had slept through the alarm.
Her assistant rushed to the apartment to help the social media star pick up the valuables she had hidden and send photos of what had remained untouched to Adonts.
But the influencer was then faced with another shocking discovery after checking the security footage once more.
The robbers appeared to have taken off with the spare key to the apartment which Adonts immediately reported to police.
But because it was mid-August, many locker replacement services were not working so a security guard was sent to keep an eye on the property until the locks could be changed.
However, no one showed up.
Adonts said the robbers had entered her home after climbing up scaffolding behind her building (pictured) before descending the roof with a car jack
The five robbers then ransacked the apartment and destroyed everything in the influencer’s home before taking off with her safe
At the time of the incident, Adonts had been abroad but admitted that after seeing the live footage of the burglary, ‘Paris was immediately done’
Adonts shared the chilling story with her 82,000 YouTube followers. Pictured: Xenia Adonts attends the Chloe Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris
Her assistant kept picking items up from the apartment to move to safer places, under the impression that security were on their way but things turned sour very quickly.
Recalling the moment, Adonts said: ‘I was in the car… I get the SOS emoji in the group chat with my assistant.
‘I reply immediately and say “what?” but she didn’t reply and this one second felt like an eternity’.
In a wild panic, Adonts then called her assistant, who miraculously picked up the phone and reassured her she was okay, but the influencer knew the robbers had returned – and had this time gotten their hands on more than watches and jewellery.
‘I ran out of the car, I immediately called the police and told them my assistant is in danger and then I just dropped down in the middle of the street’.
She recalled looking up into the sky for 15 minutes, crying with fear that the robbers would hurt or kill her employee.
‘I was praying like my life depended on it, I promised I would give everything to keep her safe’.
The assistant had by this time managed to flee to the bathroom and called Adonts, telling her how the robbers had tied her up and threatened her with knives.
Adonts told her followers they had left her assistant traumatised following the ordeal but praised her courage after being so ‘strong’ in the face of danger.
The devastated influencer continued: ‘In one video you can even hear them laugh, they clearly enjoyed what they were doing, they felt at ease, it really makes you wonder’.
Adonts then shared chilling footage of the robbers making their way up to her apartment as they plotted their way in.
She said: ‘They came with a huge bag that was filled with ropes and we can only guess what they planned to do with it’.
‘I felt so vulnerable, and there’s so much shame around this whole thing, I felt naked and I still feel naked because there’s so much shame around this whole thing,’ she said
The robbery on Adonts’ apartment lasted a shocking three-hours-and-17-minutes
The distraught influencer went on to explain that the robbers had obtained her address through a luxury delivery service.
Telling her followers the way this scheme works, she explained: ‘So when a luxury brand send me a package, they use a certain service for it.
‘And fun fact, the same service once stole a package from me… the way it works is that they sell celebrity addresses with all information on Instagram profiles – door codes, which floor we live, which items we own’.
After her package was stolen, Adonts installed two security systems – one of which is a remote 24-hour watch.
At the time of the incident, Adonts had been abroad but admitted that after seeing the footage, ‘Paris was immediately done’.
She recalled her anxiety becoming near unbearable, and said she had not felt safe in Paris for years.
‘I felt so vulnerable, and there’s so much shame around this whole thing, I felt naked and I still feel naked because there’s so much shame around this whole thing.
‘Every time I come back to Paris those feelings of extreme anxiety and fear, vulnerability and nakedness come over me, they took everything from me but the mental damage was the worst,’ she said.
To Adonts relief, on March 21, the robbers were arrested as police knew who they were from the beginning.
She had also provided a swathe of evidence to the cops which included the robbers’ faces and voices which sped up the process of police tracking them down.
‘I’m so exhausted from the emotions, but I think this is a part of getting over it,’ she bravely said.
‘I have to say that dealing with the consequences has been hard, it’s been hard for my assistant, it’s been hard for me… because it took me really really really long to rebuild a sense of security and I think I’m still not fully there yet.
‘I think I still have a lot of healing to do… and I hope this never happens to you,’ she said.
