A woman in Missouri spent two days tracking down the woman who stole her car, waiting for the perfect moment to steal it back before livestreaming the entire thing on Facebook.
Danielle Reno filmed the moment she took her car back in a dramatic end to her 48-hour investigation, saying she was ‘shaking’ and her ‘heart was racing’ the entire time.
She hunted down the thief based on purchases from her debit card, as well as GPS from her mobile phone – both of which were inside her Toyota 4Runner when it was stolen from a petrol station last Tuesday night (July 9).
According to her Facebook post, Danielle immediately filed a police report after realising her vehicle had been stolen. Rather than wait for police to track the thief down though, she decided to do a bit of ‘stalking’ of her own.
After realising her phone had been turned off upon reaching another store, Danielle visited the store and watched the CCTV footage in order to look for her car and its thief. However, she wasn’t able to record the footage.
Not giving up though, Danielle continued to track the thief’s purchases on her debit card, visiting each store in turn until one owner allowed her to take a video of the surveillance footage.
You can watch the moment she steals her car back below:
Video 1- “I stole my car back” So after my car was stolen on Tuesday night from Quick Trip off of 152 and North Oak, I filed a police report. We tracked my phone to 169 S and then it was shut off. I watched the surveillance tape but they wouldn’t let me record it so I engraved it in my brain. That night at 1:30am my Unleashed card was used at Taco Bell on Parvin for $14. At 6:32am my Unleashed card was used at BP right by 291 in Independence for $20 for gas. That owner remembered her and let me take a video of the surveillance video. My personal debit was attempted at Walmart.com and declined. I shut off the Unleashed card, my personal debit, and my personal credit card. Last night at 8pm, my phone was turned back on and located in KCMO. We went there and talked to the people who both admitted to seeing my car, knew the color of it, said the person was “just visiting”, and then it got weird. I called the cops but when they got there, the people told them I didn’t know what I was talking about. Long story short, KCPD left. Then today, I decided to turn my credit card back on to see how stupid this girl was. She used my card an hour later at the Conoco/Phillips 66 off 210 and 435 to buy beer, cigarettes, and gas. We drove there and talked to the manager who was actually the one who helped them. He couldn’t show me the surveillance but confirmed it was the same girl and said she had another girl with her. An attendant overheard us and told me she heard the girl say something about going to Applebee’s. I had my sister go to the one in Zona. We went to the one in Gladstone. No sign. We then went to the one in Independence no sign. So we decided to go back to the one in Gladstone and post up. We just had a gut feeling. We order our food and got our waters. Two seconds later, 3 trashy people walk in. I recognized her from the surveillance videos. I was shaking! I grabbed my spare key and went outside and found my car. This video is what happened next. Savannah G-love Dean stayed at the Applebee’s and followed them so we knew where to tell the police they went.
Posted by Danielle Reno on Thursday, July 11, 2019
Upon discovering the woman who stole her car was heading to Applebee’s (because a store attendant had overheard her conversation with another woman), Danielle rallied her troops and spread out in a couple of different restaurants in the area.
It was as she was about to eat her food that three people walked through the door – one of whom Danielle recognised from the surveillance footage. So what did she do? She picked up her spare key, went outside, and found her car before driving off in it and filming the entire dramatic thing.
Her friend stayed at Applebee’s to keep an eye on the group, before following them and informing the police of their movements. Police officers from Clay County Deputies then swooped in, arresting the thief immediately – something which Danielle was also able to film.
Before turning off her camera, Danielle filmed the ‘gross’ state her car was left in, pointing out the bottles of booze, the ‘drug paraphernalia,’ and other items littering the vehicle.
In fact, she said it was in such a terrible state she could no longer use the car, without giving it a thorough clean first.
Moral of the story here, folks? Well, apart from not to steal someone’s car in the first place, that is? Do not, under any circumstances, p*ss off Danielle Reno. You’ve been warned.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).