Woman's Van Missing For 4 Weeks
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- A West Side tennis mom is on a one-woman mission to find her minivan - missing for four weeks now.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Steve Miller reports, it is not known if Sandra Riley's 2000 Dodge Caravan was towed by a legitimate towing company, or stolen, or what happened to it.
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Riley uses the van to drive her teenage sons to tennis, and to help her get to work in the Loop – at least before she was laid off.
She parked the van on Jan. 31 on Mason Avenue near Division Street, and the next morning it was gone.
Riley said she didn't get much help from the city, so she filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a still image from the police camera video at the intersection.
"In the picture, this is my van and this is the tow truck," she said.
So then it was towed? The city has no record of towing it, and Riley says she's called a litany of private towing companies.
So was it towed and stolen?
"One officer told me that the police don't really look for stolen vehicles," Riley said. "My best bet was to go out there and look for it myself."
Riley said that is exactly what she has been doing, on a one-woman mission for almost a month.
"One small fish in a large pond," she said.
Chicago police say they cannot decipher the tow truck's plate number. They say the case remains open and is still listed as an auto theft.
