A Raleigh woman is frustrated with Triangle police after she says she received no help retrieving her stolen wallet and keys despite knowing their exact location.
Lynn Owens woke up Wednesday morning to drive her kids to school when she realized her car was missing.
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“I go into my driveway. My car is gone,” Owens said.
Her husband found her stolen car abandoned just down the road. Dash cam video from her car revealed someone broke into her car and drove it down the road early Wednesday morning. The thief left the car but got away with her wallet and keys.
She says that, after everything was taken into account, she lost $1,500.
But there was a silver lining to the situation – or at least she thought there was. She has a tracking device in her wallet and could see its exact location at a building in Durham.
“It’s the first thing I thought of. I called the police,” she said. “I said ‘Look, I’ve got it right on my phone. This is where my stuff is at. And I've also got the gas station where these guys used my card.'”
She thought the digital trail would be able to lead Raleigh police to retrieve her stolen items – but no luck.
After writing down the details and filing the report, she says Raleigh police never got back to her.
“I’m doing the best I can, which is – you folks who are trained to do right and to make this right,” she said. “I don’t even think they went over to look.”
After Raleigh police didn’t help, she reached out to the Durham Police Department. Still, no help.
Durham police told her in an email that “this has to be reported to the Raleigh police since the crime occurred in Raleigh.”
WRAL reached out to both police departments asking why no help was given to retrieve the wallet despite knowing its location.
Durham police did not respond.
Raleigh police replied saying that because this is an active investigation, “there is no additional information to provide at this time."
Owens – like many might in this situation – thought of trying to get her wallet back herself.
She decided not to, worrying about safety.
But that's another question WRAL posed to both Raleigh and Durham police tonight: could the police be liable if a citizen is hurt trying to get their property back after the police refuse to help?
WRAL has not received a response to that question.
Now, without help, Owens says she’s made peace with the fact that she’ll never see her stolen items again.
“The fact that this went on with absolutely zero consequences for the people that did this – it’s just a terrible feeling,” Owens said.