UPDATE [our travel trailer was stolen]

[KSScubaDiver]

On November 18, I drove down to Paola, 20 miles south of Olathe, to take a look inside our TT. I met with a detective and two police officers. The detective told me to go in. I was SO nervous. I walked in and gasped at all the mess. Clothes were strewn around, food here and there, our personal stuff moved around, our bed messed up (ewwww), the toilet filthy (another ewwww), etc. My jaw dropped to the floor. The first thing I looked for was a red toddler chair I got for our oldest son with his name on it 24 years ago. It wasn't there. My heart sank. I then saw my favorite picture which is of the waves from the Outer Banks. I was so relieved. I then spotted a hot pink make up case which I had saved really A LOT of nickels I use for our monthly tripoley games. I picked it up, and it was so light. I immediately knew they took the nickels which was approximately $75. That's okay. I went to our bedroom, checked the closets, and it looked like everything were still there. Then I checked the bathroom, and it was also a mess, especially the toilet. Shucks! I went back to the living room and picked up some clothes. A lot of them belonged to the boy. His two backpacks were there. His school work was scattered on the floor. One of them had his name, Hunter, on it. My heart broke for him. The detective pointed to a TV on one of our chairs, and I said not mine. He then pointed to a DVD player or something, and I shook my head. Then the police officer pointed to the top of the cupboards above the TV, and I looked. I recoiled in shock and gasped. It was a GUN!!! Damn!! The police officer took the gun away. My stomach turned over, and I was ready to throw up. I started to clear the couch with my fingertips, and the detective laughed. He gave me latex gloves, and I created a pile of clothes, shoes, movies, etc., in front of the door, ready to dump them on the grass, but then realized I couldn't leave them. The detective then asked if my husband was coming to take the trailer home as the tow company is ready to charge me for the day. I decided to go back home to change vehicles and pick up my husband. Before I left, I checked the storage underneath the U-shaped dinette and was delighted to find the red chair!!! I screamed and practically climbed inside the storage as it was really deep inside. When I took it out, I hugged it. The detective smiled. I told him I had planned to pass it on to my grandson. Looking around, I realized we had lost several things -- ice maker, 7 cu ft Black & Decker white refrigerator, 6 foot white foldable table, University of Alabama patio lights, a little dipper/food warmer inside a red helmet, and a canvas picture of two Adirondack chairs on the beach. I told the detective. He said to make a list after I clean the TT up. I took pictures and then left. An hour later, we returned and settled the tow bill. Then my husband went inside and was shocked to see the mess inside. A friend of ours met us, too, and was appalled. My husband then hooked up the trailer to the truck, and we returned home. I immediately bought a padlock for the tongue lock, put it in, and felt a little better.

Wednesday, November 19, I took our TT to a RV dealership 30 miles away as they had a lock kit available in stock. They changed the lock, and I felt much better. On my way back home, I stopped at a RV dealership to take a look at a travel trailer I had been keeping an eye on.

Thursday, November 20, my husband bought a tire boot lock. The store only had one so we will need to get another one. We also got a coupler lock. I also plan to add a GPS tracking device (thanks to you who provided me the links). That afternoon my son and I went back to the RV dealership to look at another travel trailer. This one was better than the one I looked the day before.

Last Friday, November 21, an adjuster with our insurance agency came to appraise the damages. During lunch, I took my husband to the RV dealership, and he saw those two travel trailers. Each trailer has its pros and cons.

Yesterday I drove out to the country where our TT was hidden and found the place. I took pictures. The day our TT was found, the owner of the property came and locked everything up. Driving back home, once again, I stopped at the RV dealership and took my time looking at each trailer. I finally decided on the Heritage Glen 302FK just in case we might trade in our TT.

This afternoon I finally cleaned up our TT. Ugh!! The thief is a smoker, and our trailer smells!! Arrrghhh! It took me less than three hours to clean it up. I sorted the clothes, kept the boy's stuff (clothes, sheet, sleeping bag, and backpacks full of his toys, movies, school stuff, karate stuff, phone accessories, etc), put the thief's clothes in another bag, reorganized things, looked for anything missing, checked for the damages, and threw away two bags of garbage as well as a large laundry hamper. I went elsewhere and got rid of the thief's clothes. Screw him! I am going to send the detective an email to let him know I have the boy's stuff ready to be picked up. While going through his stuff, I found a picture of him and his full name. I feel so bad for him 😞 Tomorrow morning I will take the trailer out for a thorough check up. When I get it back, I will have it professionally cleaned up. I am sad that it is no longer our "home sweet home" anymore. I just can't camp in it anymore. I will always be reminded that the thief was in our trailer, sleeping on our bed, using our bathroom, etc.

[LarryJM]

KSScubaDiver wrote:

Thursday, November 20, my husband bought a tire boot lock. The store only had one so we will need to get another one. We also got a coupler lock. I also plan to add a GPS tracking device (thanks to you who provided me the links).

Glad you got it back and the damage missing items weren't all that bad relatively speaking.

Unfortunately, in the day of these battery powered grinder/cut off tools and use of chains IMO no amount of locks will stop a determined thief. About the only potentially effective thing is a well hidden GPS tracking device and that doesn't prevent it being stolen, but makes a more speedy recovery possible. That along with good insurance and simply not leaving non replaceable items in the TT when stored are about the best you can do IMO. In fact a bunch of fancy visible locks could make a TT more enviting saying there is something valuable about it or it's contents that makes spending the $$$ for these fancy looking devices is there.

Larry

[rbpru]

I am glad your mystery was solved and you were not left in the dark.

I had my business broken into once. It is not the stuff they stole; it is the mess they make looking for stuff to steel.

I hope you get over the experience quickly, you can bet the robbers could care less about what they did.

Take care and God bless.

[jerem0621]

OP... The good news is that the trailer is just a thing and you and your family didn't receive any physical harm. I feel for the child of the thief too.

You may eventually understand the causation that prompted the theft of your trailer... desperation does crazy things to people... thats for sure.

While my wife didn't have personal property stolen we did experience a life changing event. We had a 2013 Kia Sorento (that I really liked BTW) and it was my DW daily driver. My wife was rear ended very hard and managed to escape with only minor bumps and bruises... the car had substantial damage and took nearly 8k in repairs to restore the car. Lots of time on the frame machine and lots of replacement parts.

My wife never got over the accident in the Kia... she jumped at every little bump and curve when in that car. It was restored back to perfection but she couldn't get over the wreck. We traded that car in, with full disclosure, on the MiniVan in my Signature. We took a bath on the deal but my wife is finally over the accident.

Whatever it takes for YOU to get over this incident...its worth it... If the professional cleaning doesn't do it for you, you can try replacing the mattress and such... but if YOU have to trade it in and get a new one... don't let anything or anyone stop you.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[deltamaster]

Not sure I would be sticking my fingers in between seat cushions, latex gloves on or not, after the rig had been stolen and lived in for over a week. You never know what the thief was doing in there and you may end up getting stabbed by a needle or a knife or a razor blade or some such thing that ended up slipping down in between the cushions.

[dewey02]

wmoses wrote:
I appreciate the update to the story. Hope it works out for you.

As for some of the comments you made in the other thread top some of the responses - I suggest that you try and understand that the rest of us who have been on these forums for some time now and have seen all sorts of people come on here wanting answers but never see fit to come back and update the thread. Don't know about you but that leaves me with a sense that I have thoroughly wasted my time responding, and that the person was rude. Maybe, just maybe that is where Bruce was coming from. Please have some consideration for that point of view and we'll all get along. 😉

No one likes a newbie to come on a forum and start lashing out, even if you did lose your trailer. Also, as you might gather from several of the responses, updates are typically made in chronological order and not to the original post as you have done in that thread. Many of us jump to the last unread post to see what was new and don't have time to start over from #1.

Again, I am sorry for you loss, glad that you found it back, hope they catch and lock up the thief, and hope you can get back into a new and suitable "home sweet home".

X2. I provided a link from the OP's old thread to this one.
Few people would know that you created a totally new thread to provide an updated situation. We hope you can overcome the feeling of violation. Starting out with a new and different model trailer will surely help. Best regards.

[wmoses]

I appreciate the update to the story. Hope it works out for you.

As for some of the comments you made in the other thread top some of the responses - I suggest that you try and understand that the rest of us who have been on these forums for some time now and have seen all sorts of people come on here wanting answers but never see fit to come back and update the thread. Don't know about you but that leaves me with a sense that I have thoroughly wasted my time responding, and that the person was rude. Maybe, just maybe that is where Bruce was coming from. Please have some consideration for that point of view and we'll all get along. 😉

No one likes a newbie to come on a forum and start lashing out, even if you did lose your trailer. Also, as you might gather from several of the responses, updates are typically made in chronological order and not to the original post as you have done in that thread. Many of us jump to the last unread post to see what was new and don't have time to start over from #1.

Again, I am sorry for you loss, glad that you found it back, hope they catch and lock up the thief, and hope you can get back into a new and suitable "home sweet home".

[KSScubaDiver]

ScottG wrote:
I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope ins. makes it as right as it can be.
We're these jerks living in your trailer?

BTW, I know that area well. We lived in Olathe and had friends in Paola.

Yes, the thief and a boy were living in our TT for a week before it was found.

Cool!! 🙂

[mds1]

Sorry to hear that happened to you. Crooks are terrible, uncaring people. Keep us posted if you hear anything from the detectives. I work in law enforcement in the KC Metro area and have not heard of any rash of thefts like this going on. If they are smokers, you can't beat the DNA from a cigarette butt. They will also more than likely send the recovered gun to the lab. Hopefully the personal items you found belong to the suspects and not another victim.

Some of those items left behind are most likely stolen from another incident so the chances of catching who did this just went up. Perhaps they have a lead regarding the stolen TV/gun or whatever and that will help solve your case or another case.

As a criminal investigator, I never mind it when a victim calls in a couple of weeks to see how the case is going. It will let the detective know you care and appreciate them trying to catch up to whomever did this.

[ScottG]

I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope ins. makes it as right as it can be.
We're these jerks living in your trailer?

BTW, I know that area well. We lived in Olathe and had friends in Paola.

[mockturtle]

I'm sure you must feel violated. So sorry this has happened to you. I wouldn't be able to camp in it, either.

[KSScubaDiver]

This is our current Coachmen Freedom Express Liberty Edition travel trailer, model 305RKDS.

Coachmen Freedom Express Liberty Edition 305RKDS floor plan

The link below shows exactly the same as our current TT (exterior and interior). We bought ours in Springfield, MO.

http://www.brownsrvsuperstore.com/pre_owned_detail.asp?veh=3389167