Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MURRAY — Renovating an old hunting trailer was a labor of love for a Utah couple.
The trailer was stolen early Memorial Day morning and Scott Francom is asking the public for help to get it back. He posted an ad on KSL.com Monday offering a $1,000 reward for the trailer's return.
"We took on this project when our relationship was fairly new," he said. "We had fun remodeling it and it was a great experience to bring us closer. I guess that's why is has such sentimental value to us."
Francom bought the 1983 trailer about a year and a half ago at a bargain price and then fixed it up with his girlfriend Angie. He estimated they put about $1,000 and countless hours into the renovation project.
He said they did everything from painting a custom window cover to putting in red countertops and reworking the plumbing. Angie sewed new cushions and the couple bought cute dishes to put in their hand-painted cabinets.
"We get compliments on it everywhere we go. People want to see the inside of it,"
Francom said. "We put a lot of hard work into it.”
The couple has been taking the trailer on adventures for the past year. They have been putting stickers from each of the locations they have visited — like Yellowstone, Moab and the Uinta National Forest — inside of the trailer.
Angie is originally from Minnesota, and Francom said enjoying the beautiful area with the trailer has helped her fall in love with Utah. When her family came into town to visit, they took them camping in the trailer.
One of the trips they had planned for this summer was to meet friends at the Dave Matthews caravan at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington — the couple's first date was at a Dave Matthews concert in Minnesota, so Angie bought the tickets as a gift.
Francom has been working with the Murray Police Department to try and recover the trailer. He said it was stolen from the parking lot of his business between 1-6 a.m. on Memorial Day morning.
The area where his business is located, on 300 West near the border of Murray and Midvale, has been hit hard by theft in recent weeks, he said. A flatbed trailer was stolen the same day from a neighboring business, Francom said.
After the flatbed trailer was stolen, it was parked nearby and police were able to recover it. A surveillance video from the parking lot shows a Ford truck pulling the flatbed trailer, and Francom said he believes the same truck took his hunting trailer.
“These thieves just drive around late at night and early into the morning and browse parking lots and steal whatever they can, whatever is not tied down or locked up," he said. "In this case they even broke locks off to steal them, so it’s kind of sad.”
Thieves don't always realize the true value of the possessions they steal, Francom said. He guessed they might be able to earn a few hundred dollars from selling the items in the trailer, but said the sentimental value for him is much greater.
He posted a reward in hopes that somebody will see something, like a neighbor parking it in a backyard or dropping it off in the mountains.
"I think maybe it’s around somewhere and somebody will spot it, and I’ll get back at least a shell of what we started on," he said. "We might have a new project to work on, but it’s worth it."
