FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — A family new to Seattle is asking for help, after all their belongings were stolen and driven away in the U-Haul they were moving in.
The family said not only do thieves have their things so do others in a neighborhood nearby where the theft took place.
"I was just in disbelief, 'Like what?'" Victoria Guardipee said. “I was just completely shocked."
The U-Haul is now missing. The Guardipee family is in the process of moving from Montana to Seattle. But on Saturday morning she and her family discovered their U-Haul was stolen overnight in the parking lot of a Comfort Inn in Federal Way.
"Everything that a person has in their house,” Guardipee said. “The furniture, TVs, games, PS5, my computer, my grandson's gaming computer, his school supplies."
She reported the crime to police and posted on a Federal Way Facebook group asking if anyone had seen their U-Haul. Neighbors a couple miles away from the hotel responded, saying they spotted it in their neighborhood where the thieves ditched some of their things.
"You're violated, just threw on the side of the road,” Guardipee said. “Then the neighbors come out and go through and take more of your things. So, it was just like double traumatizing."
Her family retrieved some of their things. But Guardipee believes some neighbors still have most of their items as police continue to search for the suspects.
"Whatever you find in your heart to return, you can bring it back to where you dumped it at and just live it there," Guardipee said.
Guardipee shared a final message to anyone who would listen.
"Don't be like us and so trustful,” Guardipee said. “And thinking everything's going to be alright because this could happen to anybody. If it happened to us, it could happen to anybody."