Young mother describes 'traumatizing' experience of someone entering home, stealing car

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Metro Nashville Police say so far this year, approximately 1,940 vehicles have been reported stolen in Davidson County with 1,533 of those recovered.

One of those victims is a young mother of a newborn baby, who says she’s now traumatized from this incident.

In security camera footage, the car thief can be seen entering the home and walking out with a bag minutes later. Around the same time, the car is being driven away.

“Went downstairs to look for her diaper bag on the kitchen counter and her diaper bag was gone,” says this mother, who wishes to remain anonymous for the safety of her family. “So of course, I started panicking. I knew right then it was stolen because I always leave my car locked."

While she had her car locked and the keys inside her diaper bag, she left the garage open and the door to the home unlocked.

Metro Police want to emphasize parking smart - lock your vehicle, secure your valuables and take keys with you.

After looking through this security footage, she was able to piece together what happened.

“I’m afraid to even be back in the area. I’m afraid to even drive anywhere now."

The mother immediately filed a police report, and an officer quickly showed up.

“It’s been pretty absent since. I know they said they have a really large number of calls [of cars] being stolen right now, so I think maybe they’re just overloaded with the car thefts right now,” believes the woman.

A spokesperson with Metro Police tells FOX 17 News that detectives have spoken with the victim, but could not identify a suspect based on the home video. When recovered, detectives will again work to ID the suspect through vehicle contents, possible prints, etc.

The mother says at this point, she’s hoping to press charges against these folks if they’re caught.

Here are some vehicle statistics FOX 17 News received from Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD):

• So far this year, approximately 1,940 vehicles have been reported stolen in Davidson County with 1,553 of those recovered.
• At this same time last year (September 2021), there were 1,865 vehicles reported stolen with 1,532 recoveries.
• Of the 1,940 vehicles reported stolen this year, 1,817 were stolen with keys made available. That is 93% of keys left in automobiles.
• At the end of 2021, there were approximately 2,630 vehicles reported stolen and of those vehicles, approximately 1,760 were stolen with the keys. That is 66% of keys left in automobiles.
• There have been 602 auto theft arrests in 2021 and 511 auto theft arrests year to date.

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