Aaron & Nyra Car Break-In Recovery (at Bellaire Food Street)
Spende geschützt
On Saturday, January 4th, 2025, Nyra and I were out for dinner with friends after a long week of work, dance rehearsals, and dealing with sickness from the weather changes. When we got back to my car, we found that two of the windows had been broken into, and both my backpack and Nyra's backpack were unfortunately stolen. We had valuable and irreplaceable items inside.
***If you've read this far, here is a reminder to please put your bags in your trunk, no matter how unlikely or safe the place might be. I used to have a great habit of putting my bags in the trunk, but life's been hitting me hard lately and I also ended up getting too comfortable and complacent.***
I work a well-paying job making a comfortable salary, so I know that I can afford to replace the materials that were stolen and don't expect much from anyone here. For those who opt to support me financially, thank you so much in advance. Moving on to some brighter news -->
SO... these thieves messed with the wrong guy. Long story short, I think we can catch the perpetrators. You might be thinking... "how?". I know of so many car thefts that get reported, but the details of those thefts were never enough for police to take action. Here is what's different with my story and how the thieves made key mistakes.
3 things. Airpods. iPad. Debit Card.
#1. The Airpods.
- My airpods were in my bag and were trackable through Find my iPhone. I tracked the airpods to a gas station 10 minutes down the road from where my car got broken into. We found the airpods thrown out by some bushes near the gas pumps, and that was when we realized that the thieves had already left.
- This was their first mistake. They literally gave us their footprint at a place with bright lights and cameras.
#2. iPad.
- My iPad was not cellular-GPS enabled (sadly), so I couldn't track it's live location. It did, however, leave a last known location on the road just a few minutes away from my dinner place. This gave me an estimate of when they left the plaza and when they arrived at the gas station (about 6 minutes away from my iPad's last location).
- This was their second mistake. I was able to estimate when they were at the gas station.
#3. Debit Card. Their final and biggest mistake.
- So my wallet is pretty bulky and has a detachable compartment. I keep the slim detachable part on my person all the time which carries my main credit card, driver's license, and Costco card (my most frequently used wallet items). The rest of my wallet is kept in my bag with my older credit card, debit card, and cash.
- While I was locking my cards, I noticed a transaction on my debit card for $57.82 at a shell gas station, presumably the one I had tracked them to. I worked with the employees there (super super helpful btw) to track down the transaction using the cost, last 4 digits of my debit, and estimated time. Using my iPad's last pinged location, I estimated that they were at the gas station around 9:50 PM. We found their exact transaction... and it was at 9:54:15 PM. Copped the receipt too! (they purchased 2 packs of cigs along with premium gas lol). The receipt also had history of the gas pump they paid for, so lining their car up with security footage will be pretty easy.
- Because they made this purchase INSIDE the store, they got up close with the indoor cameras and even interacted with an employee eyewitness. The employee who made the transaction told me a brief description of a guy and girl who made the transaction. He had also noticed something was suspicious because one of the cards the guy used got declined at first.
- To sum it up, we will have their faces, vehicle information, and video evidence, all information that are KEY for detectives to track down the perpetrators.
We gave all this information to the officers who showed up to assist us and got everything included in the report. They also asked us if we would like to press charges, and of course, we absolutely will be pressing charges when we find these thieves.
It still feels unreal that all this happened. My iPad held the last of my chemical engineering notes, senior year chemistry notes, and Japanese notes, all precious information that was not backed up and therefore irreplaceable. Nyra also lost her newly purchased (now sold out) PopMart Labubu figure that was keychained to her backpack. My car was purchased only a little more than a month ago, and complications with my insurance company have prevented me from adding it onto my policy still (involving settlement checks being addressed to the wrong party... twice). I'm still on my temporary license.
All things said, special shoutout to the girlies Sky, Rushali, Rupal, Sabrina, Matti, and Farah for being so immediately supportive of Nyra and I. Sky helped us chase down the lead while it was fresh while the others stayed behind to ensure nothing else would be stolen from my car.
This is not over yet. A few things to follow up on include:
- Tracking down contact information for property owners/managers of Bellaire Food Street (my car was broken into on the 3rd floor of the parking garage there).
- Procuring security footage of the parking garage at Bellaire Food Street at the time of the burglary.
- Procuring security footage at the Shell/Timewise gas station store. The manager w/ access to the footage isn't available until Monday at 6AM.
- Submitting evidence to detectives with HPD, and doing so in person.
- Replacing my 2 car windows. (expensive)
- Replacing the replaceable stolen items. (several week's worth of errands in and of itself)
- Recovering mentally from the shock of the incident.
List and value of stolen items (est. $2.6K in total losses):
- Women's Recon Backpack TNF Black/24K Gold (2016 Edition, discontinued) - $99.00
- iPad Pro (3rd Gen 256GB WiFi Only) - $949.00
- Logitech Slim Folio Pro iPad Pro Keyboard Case - $119.99
- Apple Pencil (2nd Gen) - $129.00
- PopMart Labubu Figure (sold out) - $21.99, est. $40 resale value
- Sonny Angel Winter Wonderland 2023 Special Edition 1/144 Secret Pull Snow Fairy Mouse (limited edition, sold out) - est. $80 resale value
- Apple USB-C Charging Block - $19.00
- Apple USB-C to USB-C Charging Cord - $19.00
- Apple USB-C to Lightning Charging Cord - $19.00
- Apple USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Adapter - $9.00
- Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Adapter - $9.00
- 20100 mAh Portable Charger - $44.99
- Sandisk 128GB Flash Drive - $39.99
- Pikahuge Gym Tee Shirt (convention small vendor) - $25.00
- USB-C to USB 3.0 Adapter x 2 - $9.99
- Masterlock Combination Padlock - $10.49
- Biotrue Hydration Boost Contacts Rehydrating Drops - $12.88
- Systane Eye Itch Relief Drops - $8.99
- Exclusive, customized, and limited edition jewelry (including 2 rosaries blessed by a priest) - est. $500+ and priceless
- Futuro Back brace - $25.94
- Danz N Motion Knee brace - $15.95
- Nike Streak Volleyball Knee Pads - $24.49
- Kroger Brand Mucinex - $9.49
- Tylenol Extra Strength Acetaminophen (100 ct.) - $10.99
- Vans Backpack (2016 Edition) - est. $30
- Korean Brand Skincare - est. $50
- Airpods (1st Gen) - $144.99
- Apple Wired Earbuds -$19.00
- Assorted Makeup Collection - est. $75
- Assorted Clothing Items - est. $50
- Old Spice Deodorant x 2 - $6.99 x 2
- Travel Size Vaseline - $2.99
- Calvin Klein Bi-Fold Wallet - est. $50
- Cash - est. $55
- Pikachu Enamel Pin - $13.01
- Pikachu "Corporate Slave" Vinyl Sticker - $3.01
- Pikachu "Round Boi Pika" Vinyl Sticker (etsy vendor on break) - $4.50
- Pikachu "Sleepy Pika" Vinyl Sticker (etsy vendor on break) - $3.50
- LE SSERAFIM "Make it Look Easy" Album Sticker - est. $3
- Bath and Body Works Fragrance Spray - $18.95
- 0.38mm Fine Point Pilot G2 Pens
- H-Mart Manicure Kit
- Houston Re-vision (previously know as "the YA") Bracelet
- Claw Mania Exchange Tokens
Mitorganisatoren (1)
Aaron Kwok
Organisator
Houston, TX
Nyra Springer
Mitorganisator