...if it had been a wired controller....

Firstly why would someone steal it and then happily leave it sitting in a seemingly unlocked apartment nearby?? (since the implication is that he wandered into said apartment unhindered).

Also why on earth would they wipe it, and more to the point how without the aid of a controller? I'm not aware of a "wipe hard drive" button on the 360.

Fantasy land stuff.

Isn't this just more of Microsofts press manipulation, getting sites to mention Xbox360 in the runup to Xmas...

You can format the Xbox 360s Hard Drive, which, in turn, will wipe any data that's on there:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906502

I agree with you though, it seems hard to imagine that he just strolled in to an empty apartment that was unlocked with a 360 just sitting there.