An interesting car theft story close to home.

[SteveSS]

My ex, Jacque, walked into her garage a couple of weeks ago only to find her Kia Seltos stolen. Here are the details in the order in which they were discovered.

She didn't leave the garage door open so someone must have opened it manually, making less noise. Her keys were in the SUV. (I immediately thought it was done by the easy way Kias and Hyundais are stolen but she had the recall done to fix that.)

No one knows how the thief entered the garage but during the police investigation, they found a brand new pair of Nike shoes in her windowwell.

Her next-door neighbor's daughter is a mess. Criminally and drug charges. She even had a warrant out for her arrest at the time. The was a suspicious young man walking around the neighborhood. (The man with the face tattoo.}
In talking to the neighbor's daughter the police established a connection to the tattooed man and the shoes. No one knows what charges are going to be brought, and the police won't tell anyone yet.

The police spotted the car on a highway cam traveling south on I-25. The SUV was stolen from Castle Rock, just south of Denver.

The SUV was found in Pueblo, Colorado abandoned behind a 7-11. The police didn't actually find it. The 7-11 owner called to report an abandoned SUV. The front tag was removed. The Kia and Seltos badges were pried off and the rear tag was folded up. There was drug parphanelia in the car including some tinfoil with burned drug residue. The SUV went to an impound lot in Pueblo.

After a week it was towed back up to Castle Rock to a fancy detail shop where it was tested for drugs. This is important to the insurance because if it tested positive the SUV would be totaled and the insurance pay the value of the car plus 20%. She checked with the shop today and it tested positive for meth and fentanyl. She hopes to get a couple of things back like jackets and said she would not hold them liable for those items.

She's had a rental car paid by the insurance company but now she has to go new car shopping. If you have any suggestions for a reasonably priced SUV 4x4 I'd like to hear it.

I'll post more if we find out who and what will be charged. Colorado is going all liberal so I don't expect too much. We are the number one state for car thefts.

 

[ckessel]

Wow. It makes sense you would treat a vehicle like a house thats been used for cooking. Gotta love living next to dirt bags and the fellow dirtbags they attract.

 

[SteveSS]

One thing I forgot. They pried the Onstar hardware off the upper dash. The ridiculous behavior to risk 10 years in prison to drive a car 75 miles.

 

[DeltaV]

I hope your Ex has a well trained dog to provide her with security.

 

[SteveSS]

Nope, two cats. I'm not sure if she owns a firearm. I am damn sure my daughter owns a .45 and knows how to use it.

 

[QuickBpBp]

One thing I forgot. They pried the Onstar hardware off the upper dash. The ridiculous behavior to risk 10 years in prison to drive a car 75 miles.

That’s the nice part for them is they won’t spend anytime in prison… You need to remember the thief is the real victim here. We are NOW living in crazy times. Good luck on sorting it all out…

 

[33 IMP]

My pickup was stolen from my driveway. First thing the guy did was cut the wires to the mirror and destroy the phone/Bluetooth connection too
Didn't do him any good, he was caught the next day, truck went to impound. The cops let me know three days later after it had acquired $500 of storage fees, I had to pay to get my own property back, not to mention the damage the ****** did to it, and the $1500 worth of stuff in it that wasn't recovered
I attended his trial, he got a year, meaning out in a couple months (or weeks).I hope he had a few 6'6" relationships every night while he was there.

My other car stolen, a Z28 camaro was ruined much worse than the truck, never caught the thieves (I think they live on my street, certainly in the neighborhood). I found it was used by the thieves as a getaway car for burglaries and home invasion robberies. (We weren't aware it had been stolen for a couple weeks). It was abandoned on somebody's sidewalk, out of gas, same day it was reported stolen.

 

[33 IMP]

One thing I forgot. They pried the Onstar hardware off the upper dash. The ridiculous behavior to risk 10 years in prison to drive a car 75 miles.

MUCH more likely ten days (IF that!) than ten years. Murder doesn't get ten years anymore.

 

[YY1]

Kias have onstar now?

 

[SteveSS]

It was whatever the tracking thing Kia's. I've never owned one.

 

[Triplegreen500]

She didn't leave the garage door open so someone must have opened it manually, making less noise

Having just had to replace springs on one of my garage doors...they do NOT open manually from the outside (even with new springs). If they have a power door opener, it has a "brake". Unless you disconnect the arm from the door...you ain't moving that door. The motor holds it in place, whether open, closed, or somewhere in between. Somehow, the perp got in the garage - if they opened the door manually, they did it from inside, after pulling the red handle that hangs from the motor track.

Glad nobody was hurt.

I swear by my Grand Cherokee (a 2014 WK2). The AWD system makes bad weather boring. Mine's a diesel, but any of them have outstanding AWD - 3.6 pentastar six, 5.7 hemi, or 3.0 diesel. Bluetooth, nav, touch screen, auto dual climate, heated and vented seats, UConnect (Mopar's OnStar), power everything, comfy, quiet, and efficient. And, that generation is very reasonably priced (if she's interested in used). New...they're pricey as hell, but still amazing vehicles.

Oh, and ask her - why the HELL did she leave the keys in the SUV??? Especially if it's a fob-based, pushbutton start - that will kill the fob battery AND the car battery. If the fob is sensed by the car, the computers never sleep - they're constantly waiting for you to hit the button and drive off. Take the fob at least 50' away when you park it, the car will "lose sight" of the fob, it will know it's "parked", and the computers will go to sleep.

And buy her a damn shotgun. Not much training required, you don't have to be that accurate with one, and you can absolutely clear a room with it. And, unless it goes through a window, there's very little chance of wall penetration and hurting innocent people somewhere else.

And, racking a 12ga pump will make most crooks - stoned, drunk, baked, or not - **** their pants. Just store it "cruiser ready" - full tube, but empty chamber. Most shotguns are NOT drop-safe. Drop one with a shell in the chamber and it will probably fire. Keep the chamber empty.

Again - glad nobody was hurt. And if there was meth and fentanyl in the car? She won't get the clothes back. She doesn't WANT them back. You touch something with that residue on it, and depending on the concentration, skin absorption can kill you. Let it all go, put it all on the insurance claim.

 

[SteveSS]

Definitely disconnected from the inside of the garage. No one knows how he got in but the new Nikes in the windowell point to that. Realize I am getting this info secondhand through my children who are grown and have their own homes. This is my ex. I am not in the business of offering advice about dogs or guns to her. I do know she is referring to an expensive North Face parka I bought for her years ago. I wouldn't want anything from inside the SUV either. I communicate with her as little as possible.

Since this is an auto-centric site I thought it would be of interest because we love our cars. I must admit if someone broke into my home all my keys are on the kitchen desk. Maybe I should hide them.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I remove the manual release cord from the opener…

 

[AR67GTX]

OH doors without windows was my solution to that. Our niece had her KIA hamster car stolen in Monument CO a couple of years ago thanks to the lack of an ignition demobilized. After a month it was recovered and looked like someone had been living in it and it was all torn up. It was totaled which really screwed up her lease. It was low miles and about to time out and she was going to purchase it. I don’t recall the exact details but the insurance payout didn’t meet the buyout price or something ( I think inflated by Covid ****) and she ended up having to make up the difference to the lease company.

Honestly, I think car thieves should be treated like they did horse thieves in old westerns.

 

[Triplegreen500]

I keep car keys in the gun safe. Not because "gun safe", but because I'm forgetful. I come home and EVERYTHING on my body goes in the gun safe - EDC, wallet, house keys, car keys, chap stick. That way, I don't spend an hour next morning doing the "where the hell did I put..." dance!

 

[33 IMP]

My camaro got stolen cause the thieves came into the house through the doggie door, and found keys to the house, garage, gates, and car.
DOH!
We did an excellent job of securing the barn door, after the horse was gone.

 

[patrick66]

Oh, and ask her - why the HELL did she leave the keys in the SUV??? Especially if it's a fob-based, pushbutton start - that will kill the fob battery AND the car battery. If the fob is sensed by the car, the computers never sleep - they're constantly waiting for you to hit the button and drive off. Take the fob at least 50' away when you park it, the car will "lose sight" of the fob, it will know it's "parked", and the computers will go to sleep.

I had no idea! Makes perfect sense, I guess.

 

[Cranky]

MUCH more likely ten days (IF that!) than ten years. Murder doesn't get ten years anymore.

Not in Texas. I know a guy that had a car crash that killed two people and got sentenced to 20 years for each death. So far he's done about 10.....

 

[Southbranch]

My girlfriend grabbed the wrong bag from the backseat and came out of the bagel shop to a empty space. They found her land rover in a container on a ship a month later. The police were tracking it but couldn't chase because the speed was over 50 mph. The same day at a shopping center another land rover was stolen and they drove to the house and using the garage door opener stole their other car as the keys were on the kitchen counter. My Subaru is a stick and my Ram keys are in my pocket, the spares they will never find.

 

[Sahara]

Not in Texas. I know a guy that had a car crash that killed two people and got sentenced to 20 years for each death. So far he's done about 10.....

Here in northern Canada it’s a joke, especially if you are aboriginal. A few years ago a drunken guy fatally shot his brother with a 30/30. Got four years. At about the same time two idiots beat another idiot to death. The first guy served his sentence and was released before the second guys trial was over. That sort of stuff is common here.