A Plainfield woman is sending a warning to suburban residents to lock their car doors and bring any valuables inside after her car was stolen from her garage.
Alexandra O'Dell told NBC 5 that she believes the thieves used her car to commit more crime in other Chicago suburbs.
“Over a week and a half, my vehicle was used in Geneva to steal a BMW. It was also used in New Lennox to my knowledge and also carjacking to a 17-year-old,” O’Dell said.
O’Dell’s car was stolen more than a week ago from her family’s garage in the Walker’s Grove subdivision in Plainfield, she said.
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“My sister accidently left the car door unlocked and they went inside took the garage door opener, opened our garage and my car was inside,” O'Dell said.
In hopes of getting her car back, she shared her story on the Chicago’s Stolen Car Directory Facebook group and received several leads.
“Police had told me it was seen through license plate scanners, but to actually see a video of these people getting out of my car and trying to steal from others it just made my blood boil,” O'Dell said.
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She said the thieves were caught on camera trying to get into unlocked cars in a subdivision in Geneva. O'Dell said she recognized her car in the home surveillance video.
“They put about 3,000 miles on my car,” she said. “There’s probably a lot more victims that I don’t know of, but I only know of at least three.”
Over the weekend, O’Dell recovered her stolen car. She said police told her it was found near 82nd Street and Woodlawn on the South Side of Chicago.
O'Dell said she couldn’t believe what police discovered inside the vehicle.
“They found gun clips, ammo, fake guns, they found stolen licenses, stolen checks, some baggie of drugs,” O’Dell said.
O’Dell warned others to be careful. She’s said she's not sure if the same people who stole her car returned to her subdivision, but on early Monday morning, she said another neighbor had their car stolen on Monroe Court.
“I don’t know if that was a coincidence or if it is the same people, but clearly they are continuing to come back to our subdivision and the need to stop and they need to be caught,” she said.
O’Dell said Plainfield police detectives are working to retrieve data from her car’s Bluetooth system. But at police have not yet released any information on possible suspects.
