Stolen car recovered same day, but owner says she wasn't told for 3 months

ECORSE, Mich. (WJBK) - An Ecorse woman's car is stolen while parked right in front of her own home.

It was recovered the same day - but, she didn't find out  until three months later. After FOX 2 got involved, Ecorse police is working to make it right, but it has been a long road for the family.

"When we looked out the window, it was like wait, there is no car," said Doris Love. "It was like, oh no it is really just gone."

That was March 9. Love and her husband John Reese immediately filed a police report with Ecorse police after their 2002 green GMC Envoy was stolen from in front of their house on Josephine.

From that point on, Doris Love says she would call the police department every day, hoping officers had located the family's only form of transportation.

She was told "Don't call us - we'll call you" when her car was found.

"My husband had to change jobs because the other one was too far," she said. "We were carpooling and asking friends and then we ended up borrowing some money and got a new truck. It was overwhelming, it was too much without a car."

Love made daily calls for three months, then one day her husband decided to call police.

"The lady was like, 'Was that the car they caught the teenagers in?' I'm like we don't know, can you tell us?"

It turns out their Envoy was found the same day it was stolen. According to the police report, a witness called police after recognizing the teenagers driving the stolen vehicle.

The suspects were connected to another crime as well. Officers arrested the kids trying to flee the scene on west Westfield.

Officers took the three teens into custody and impounded the GMC Envoy, but no one contacted Love and her husband, alerting them that their car had been found.

And when FOX 2 looked closer at the documentation - it showed the same officer who took the stolen car report - is the same officer who was there when the vehicle was found.

"Somebody should be double checking," Love said. "It's like how many vehicles do you have sitting there and people don't know that their stolen vehicles are there."

And when the couple went to retrieve their vehicle - Mars Towing- which impounds vehicles for Ecorse, claimed it would cost $2,400 dollars which broke down to $25 dollars a day to store it.

And while it was there, the windows were down leading to extensive damage.

"There was like a lot of blame going back and forth," Love said. "I was like somebody needs to explain why am I paying for my stolen car and then it is damaged."

Initially, Ecorse police knocked the fees down - to $400 plus a $100 administrative fee. Reluctantly, they couple paid.

FOX 2 reached out to Ecorse Public Safety Director Mike Moore. He looked into it and admits someone clearly dropped the ball. In fact, as of Friday morning the vehicle was still in the LEIN system - despite the fact it was now sitting in front of Doris and her husband's home.

Moore says his department takes full responsibility. It will reimburse any fees from the towing company and pay to fix the Envoy that no longer works.

"Thank you so much," Love said. "It is nice they are actually going to fix it but they have to get on that. Other people in the community you pay your taxes so they protect you so you don't have to go through this and get your property back."

Moore says they had no record of Love calling for her car daily. And the report was only under her husband's name - not hers - which may have added to the confusion.

However, Moore says there should have been an attempt to at the very least send a letter alerting the couple their car had been found.