A General Motors enthusiast in Lake County, Illinois is sending out a warning after thieves broke into her garage overnight and made off with her 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible.
According to Chicago-area CBS affiliate CBS2, Jennifer Parker had her 2014 Chevrolet Camaro stolen from her garage by a band of thieves while her husband and her slept just feet away inside. The crooks first broke into a car parked in her driveway and found a garage door opener, giving them access to the three-car garage attached to the Parkers’ large home. The thieves were likely delighted to see a C7 Corvette Convertible and a 2014 Camaro Convertible parked inside and promptly made off with the Camaro after they were able to locate the keys inside the vehicle.
These were certainly no professional car thieves, though, as they badly damaged the car when trying to back it out of the Parkers’ garage. They then bottomed the car out when trying to frantically drive away from the scene of the crime, tearing off the front bumper and leaving a rather large piece of bright yellow evidence sitting on the driveway.
Screenshot via CBS2
“We have a car lift in the garage and they hit that first, trying to turn the car to get out of the garage,” Parker explained to CBS2. “Then they overcorrected and hit the wall of the garage, then they hit my vehicle outside the garage, and then apparently bottomed out in the yard, and when they tried to reverse, they left the fender in the yard.”
“We didn’t hear anything, luckily,” she added. “It’s anger. It’s violation. It’s what-ifs – all the what-if’s keep playing out. What if they had come in the house? Would they have a weapon? Who knows.”
Parker said she is now arming her home alarm more often, keeping her doors locked and warning her neighbors about this brazen band of car thieves. Let’s hope the police are able to recover her beloved Camaro and that if they do, it doesn’t have any more damage than it’s already incurred.
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Comments
Car rental LDW and British insurance (at minimum) requirements make sense: if you can’t produce the keys after a theft, it’s not covered. In the US, 40% of car thefts occur with the keys.
Crime in Chicago? That is hard to believe!
These cities wonder why we have abandoned them.
Thats not CHICAGO that happened 55 miles NE OF Chicago. In Lake County. IL
I should know I used to own a yellow Camaro and live in the same area where this car was stolen from.
“after they were able to locate the keys inside the vehicle” What ? Just leave er running in the driveway for em next time ehh.
Why the down on this one?
Surely someone doesn’t defend leaving their keys in the car. Were they cleverly hidden on the sun visor?
Thanks Nate, Maybe the house key was in the front door also.
Oh great, we’re giving away all their best hiding places. Now someone is going to empty out their house!
I leave keys in ignition all the time. Thats the plus of living in the woods & 2 dogs can come and go as they please. Would love my Ring cameras catch a thief trying to fight off dogs. Gets old watching wild life set them off. Well, i can wish
So I’m reading all These comments about “blaming” the couple for leaving the key in the car and leaving the car door unlocked. Look, just STFU. What you morons Fail to understand is that IT’S THEIR PROPERTY. If they want to leave the car unlocked with the keys in it in their garage, then it’s their right to do so. No one has the right to come onto your property and steal your stuff. Don’t blame the people for being stupid or Careless, blame those A hole, no good, low-life, thugs who BROKE THE LAW. I wish all 5 of them would have been shot dead.
Yes, you’re correct. They have a right to do stupid things.
But you still shouldn’t do stupid things.
I always leave the keys in the car in the garage. I’d rather someone just take the car if they break in than going through my house where my family sleeps, if they’re after a cheap and quick theft, take the car. Insurance is cheaper to replace the car rather than pay out for a death….I would hope anyway
Stupid is as stupid does. Next time she should just put a sign on the Camaro saying the keys are in it.
The criminal pricks broke into their vehicle in the driveway to get a garage door opener to break into their garage. They will prolly get a public defender to get them off if arrested. Better off to lose the car than to shoot at them and get charged with attempted murder. Don’t ask me how I know this. America is seriously deteroriating. Too bad the working tax paying citizens have no protection under the law or right to defend their property. It is a sad state of affairs.
Just goes to show you that common sense is not too common. !st mistake was to leave the garage opener in a car parked in the driveway. 2nd mistake was to leave car keys in the car. Sure it is your property, but be smart about how you protect it.
Maybe if your wife or daughter gets raped in your house its your fault for not living in a military bunker with one entrance and an armed guard or two on duty guarding it 24/7. The theibes broke into the garage. That’s breaking and entering. What’s the difference if they broke into a vehicle to steal the garage door opener to open the door. They could just as easily have a signal generator or drive up and down the street with multiple garage door openers trying to open doors and stealing what they want when one opens. No different than jimmying the lock or picking it. Or using a credit card or knife to open a locked door. It is still unlawful unauthorized entry into private property.
You can cry all day about how its against the law but its not going to stop those that want to commit those crimes. Common sense would dictate that if you leave your cars unlocked with the keys in them, they might get stolen.
I hope they catch them and don’t let them out with no bail. Letting these things go just makes them bolder. Next time they may take someone’s life.
I think you misspelled something they should release them with no balls. Having removed them with no anesthesia and sewn their sacks full of rocksalt.
Someone had to know. Or it could off been an inside job. Or insurance.. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…
Lets hire 5 guys to steal a car on camera to cash in on insurance. Yeah great idea. Apple far from the tree? You even know what the phrase means? Did you see their house? Moron
Keester is an idiot. That is all…
If you have a home alarm system, and sensors on the garage door an alarm will trigger. Alarm systems have a setting for “At Home” so if a window is broken, a door is opened, or a smoke detector is triggered, then you’re alerted. Even if your alarm is on silent mode the alarm company and authorities are notified. The modern alarm stuff is cellular, so cutting a telephone line is futile.
Just looks like a bunch of teenagers out at night with nothing better to do. Their real mistake was leaving a garage door opener in a car parked outside. I bet the Camaro had a garage door opener in it, too. I bet when they recover the car, in a day or two, the garage door opener is gone. These folks had better reprogram, or replace the opener, or these kids will be back again. They have to be kids; Did you see the one by the Corvette? When the Camaro started, he took off running back home. He was not expecting them to start the car. This isn’t a criminal gang, just a bunch of scared, and (mostly) ballsy kids. The family is really lucky for that. I hope this incident makes them think more seriously about their security.
Why not call them “black thieves”? Or why not “black car thieves pillage white family again”? Should there not be protests and riots? The ideology here doesn’t make national news because it happens all too often and doesn’t fit the mainstream agenda. And it’s not just B v. W, but mainly B v. B. Does any other skin color besides black not matter when considering a non-black victim? I am light skin…it feels necessary to include this for obvious reasons.
Secure the garage door opener. Cover the garage windows. Don’t leave the keys in the car. Get a dog. No! I’m not blaming the owners. There is personal security value and property security value in this story for us all. 1 human life, even that of a criminal, is worth more than all the cars.
I don’t blame the owner of the vehicle that was stolen but I certainly wouldn’t leave my garage door opener in my vehicle to give anyone access to my home and loved ones, this whole episode could have turned out tragically different.
How does she fit in either car?
Agree, Keester is an idot
She says they broke into her garage but the jeep was unlocked and they took the opener outa that to open the door..duh..besides who leaves keys in cars inside the garage anyway and how convenient the keys were in the camaro but not the vette.. im still trying to figure out how she fits in a camaro
how come they didn’t hear anything if thier bedroom was so close,um I think someone is lying
this is exactly why i run my video feeds through deepstack AI to alert me of when people are in places they shouldn’t be at times no one should be there.this removes all false alarms you would get from neighborhood cats and whatnot with dumb motion sensors… all my smart speakers then announce “people detected on security camera feed, you are being recorded, owners are watching you right now”
Let’s just hope that all of them are shot dead one day and then they won’t be unlawfully entering people’s property ever again. People commit crimes like this because they know nothing will happen to them. If they get caught, they will be out of jail on probation, just to keep committing the same crimes over and over again. A bullet to the head is much more effective than a court room in preventing future and repeated crimes.
I’m guessing they didnt bottom out the car. They pulled the bumper cover loose when they hit the lift and then tore off the cover before leaving