THUNDER BAY -- All Dianne Hennenfent wants for Christmas is her car back.
The Thunder Bay woman spent Wednesday morning Christmas shopping. She stopped at her Johnson Avenue apartment to make a phone call and when she came back outside, her car was gone along with the gifts she’d just purchased.
“I was just flabbergasted, completely shocked. I’ve just been in a state of disbelief since then and crying non-stop,” she said Thursday afternoon.
Hennenfent is on a fixed income, receiving disability pay, and needs her vehicle to travel to doctors appointments. She’s saved all year to buy her four children and grandchildren Christmas gifts.
“I really need my car back. I don’t expect the presents back. I’m sure they’re gone, but the car I need so bad,” she said.
Her vehicle is a 1995 baby-blue Intrepid; she bought it two years ago from a scrap yard and doubts it has any value. But Hennenfent can’t afford to buy a new one even with insurance.
“It puts me out unbelievably. I don’t know what to do,” she said. “The car gave me freedom to do what I need to do and to think about how I’m going to catch a bus now, it’s just sad.”
Hennenfent didn’t think her neighbourhood was a bad area of the city and said she doesn’t know what to think.
“I guess people are desperate this time of year,” she said.
Thunder Bay Police Service spokeswoman Const. Julie Tilbury said the holiday season is a time to be cautious about locking your vehicles, especially when out Christmas shopping.
Tilbury said the car was running with the keys in it when it was stolen Wednesday morning.
“Though the weather is getting colder and it may be ideal to warm up your vehicle, if you do leave it unlocked with the keys in it, it sort of opens up the door for a crime of opportunity and allows someone who may or may not have a driver’s license to take your vehicle,” she said.
She also warned people not to leave their shopping items visible in their vehicles and don’t store any gifts in the car.
“Unfortunately, some people take that opportunity to do their Christmas shopping out of the backseat of your car,” she said.
