DENVER – A surveillance camera mounted above the garage did not deter a car thief from stealing Erike Gebhardt’s car while it was parked in the driveway.
“Somehow they took our spare key and stole our car from the alley at 2:30 in the morning,” Erika said.
It’s been a tough two weeks for Erika and her husband, Chris Gebhardt. The stolen car was eventually recovered, but only a few days later, the other car was stolen as they prepared to leave a friend’s house.
“I couldn’t believe it happened twice,” Chris said.
Both times technology has played a critical role in recovering stolen vehicles. The Gebhards managed to track down the stolen cars using their smartphones and transmitted the information to the police. They became frustrated when they felt that the police were not acting on this information.
“So at that point, I just thought, ‘Okay, let’s at least go look at him,'” Chris said.
Chris ended up calling an Uber and, with the help of a good Samaritan, managed to track his car down an alley.
“It’s the second time in two weeks that we found our own vehicle after it was stolen. I mean, when my vehicle was stolen, two weeks ago, we did the exact same thing,” Erika said.
| Car theft data: Colorado State Patrol | ||
| 2019 | 2020 | |
| Denver County | 4,793 | 7,568 |
| Adams County | 2,964 | 4,315 |
| Arapahoe County | 2,969 | 4,842 |
| Jefferson County | 1,742 | 2,718 |
| Douglas County | 291 | 514 |
Denver7 asked a Denver Police Department spokeswoman about the response to the Gebhardts case, and she replied: or DPD response, we encourage them to reach out to us so we can discuss this issue with them. “
According to DPD, the car theft on February 3 happened when the vehicle was allowed to drive on the alley. A spokesman said the couple had been informed that there would be a delayed response due to the high volume of calls at the time. Both cases remain open.