While we were busy getting ready for the first day of school, we got a phone call (about 7 am) from the police department asking if we were missing a suburban. Truthfully, we had to go check. We hadn't been out for the day yet, and didn't even know. Sure enough, it was missing from our driveway.
Evidently somebody got into our car during the night (Matt's not entirely sure that he locked the car afteer he'd been out). I keep a bag in the car with diapers and coloring books that we usually take into the church with us on Sundays. Unfortunately, I had also dropped my keys into the bag, and since Matt was driving, I didn't think to retrieve them. Luckily, my ID and wallet were not also in the bag.
Anyways, once they found the keys, they just took the suburban.
Our driveway is on an incline, so we always set the emergency brake to prevent it from rolling backwards. (We can't park in the garage because the suburban won't fit.) When they took the car, they did not unset the brake. They took the car to a park a few miles from our house, where they spun donuts and did all sorts of crazy maneuvers in the grass. Miraculously, they did not hit any of the many trees or lunch tables there.
I have to imagine that as the emergency brake heated up, it got to squealing something terrible, so they just abandoned the vehicle in the middle of the park.
They did break the radio, and spilled beer in the front seat, but nothing else was stolen and the car was in good shape other than the front brakes, which we had to have replaced along with the rotors and struts.
Annoying, but it could have been so much worse, and at least we got our vehicle back. Crazy first day of school that we'll always remember. Matt stayed at the park with the police while the crime lab did their stuff, and I came home and got the kids off to school. They were able to get a few fingerprints, but to our knowledge, no arrests have been made yet.
