My 2008 outback was broken into last night. I know it was locked as I clicked the remote twice and double checked. However, this morning items were missing from my console and some other things looked rifled through. There are no signs of forced entry- has any one else had a similar issue? Should I have the car checked for anything missing of for some unknown problem? Is there any corrective action I can take to prevent a repeat episode???
An experienced thief can slim-jim a car door open in seconds. A kid in minutes. But in either case leave very little evidence of ‘forced entry’. Of course, if this car has an alarm, the alarm would trip and alert you and the neighbors. That is the least expensive and can be moderately effective.
I am again reminded why I so enjoy living here. The doors are unlocked on every vehicle I own and the key is in the ignition of several.
Have you got a picture of you sitting out front of your garage in the lawn chair with the shot gun on you lap? 
No window frames. It’s not hard to pry the window glass away from the gasket and use a wire or some other implement to open the lock.
Not much you can do.
My ex-brother-in-law had that habit. Never had a problem at his home, but did the same thing at his cousin’s house in Tampa. He was lucky the first time, and some young kids took it for a joy ride. The second time it happened, they never found it.
The owners manual for my wifes 02 Ssonata tells me that if the car is locked with the remote & unlocked with the key the alarm will sound off. And to shut it off turn the key to run & wait 30 seconds.
If your owners manual sez the same, try it & see if the alarm is working.
Used to be that thieves would use a radio receiver to listen for your key remote signal. Once they had that, they could open your car any time they wanted.
However, the standard of the industry for the past decade has been to use rotating codes in remotes. You might check the specifications for your car to make sure that your car uses rotating codes. If not, someone may now have your code and you have a problem.
Check the function of your alarm - or if you don’t have an alarm, you might consider getting one.
Look closely at the passenger door to be sure there is not a very small hole beneath the key hole. If there is a nail-sized hole poked through the sheet metal, they can come back and re-open the door any time, this time without making any noise.