Suspect steals Wal-Mart shopper’s SUV

Stock image, Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY – Cedar City Police are asking for the public’s help finding a vehicle stolen from the Wal-Mart parking lot Tuesday morning.

At approximately 6 a.m. officers responded to a report of a stolen white 2010 Ford Explorer that had been parked in front of the retail giant at 1330 S. Providence Center Drive.

While police did not confirm the particulars of this morning’s incident, earlier radio transmissions reported the victim had been shopping and loaded her items into the vehicle when she realized her keys were missing. The woman then went back into the store to search for her keys. Having no success, she returned to the parking lot to find her vehicle and all her purchases with it gone.

A family member of the victim said the cameras at Wal-Mart provided video footage showing the suspect followed the woman to the front door and then went back and got in her Explorer to rummage around. Before taking her SUV, the suspect got back in his car and pulled it out of the parking lot before coming back to take her vehicle.

“The creepy thing is the guy watched her and then followed her until she went into the store then went back to the vehicle and rummaged through the vehicle and found the keys,” he said.

The suspect then went to his own car and moved it off site and returned to the vehicle, the family member stated. At that time, the suspect then waited for the victim to return and upon seeing her going back in the store then took the vehicle.

The incident serves as a reminder to citizens, particularly during this holiday shopping season.

Cedar City Police Sgt. Jimmy Roden said citizens should keep their vehicles locked at all times – even while driving – and never leave keys in the car. In addition, he said, close all the windows and sunroof and never leave the car running and unattended.

Police are encouraging anyone with information about this alleged theft to call Cedar City Police Department at telephone 435-586-2956.

Ed. note: CLARIFICATION: The family member’s quote was changed and a paragraph added to the story to clarify that the suspect only followed the victim upon her first time entering the store at which time he returned to the vehicle to rummage through it and find her keys. In addition, radio transmissions described the woman as having been shopping however the family member could not confirm that.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

5 Comments

  • fun bag December 8, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    was it:

    a: a white tweeker

    b: an illegal immigrant

  • voice of reason December 8, 2015 at 7:32 pm

    The family is all over a Cedar City Facebook page saying that the lady had “hidden” the keys underneath her drivers seat. The “family member” quoted was talking about how he always leaves his keys in the cup holders. If you’re dumb enough to leave your keys in the car, you deserve to have it stolen. The only reminder people need this time of year is “Don’t do dumb things”. Christmas time or not, there’s no fixing stupid.

  • .... December 9, 2015 at 2:34 am

    Ha ha ha ha ha you left your keys in your car.ha ha ha ha ha stupid is as stupid does duhhhhhhh

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.