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LEHI — A woman tracked down and recovered her pickup truck less than 48 hours after surveillance video showed someone driving off with it from a Lehi neighborhood.
"It was a ride," Jillian Orr said.
This is not the journey she expected to take one month after buying her dream Toyota Tacoma — complete with a lift, blacked-out wheels and tinted windows.
Orr woke up March 11 and noticed her keys were missing. She couldn't find her wallet and she had several strange phone calls and messages on her phone.
"It was really weird. I was getting phone calls about purchases in China," she said.
The worst news was outside. Orr ran out to the driveway to find her truck was also missing.
"Completely gone. My truck was just not even in sight anywhere," Orr said. "It was just a bummer because I had worked so hard for so long for it that — I was like, I was heartbroken."
Orr's first stop was to neighbors' homes to collect surveillance video from doorbell cameras. Surveillance video showed individuals scoping out the neighborhood and one of them driving off with her truck. She spent the rest of the day calling and canceling credit cards and purchases. The only local charge was from a Maverik gas station more than 20 miles north, off of 3300 South in Salt Lake City with a credit card she never used. The next day, Orr made a decision.
"I'm finding it tonight. That's my truck and I'm going to find it," she said.
She and a friend drove to the Maverik and learned someone had used her credit card to buy cigarettes at 3:30 a.m. on March 11. The attendant wouldn't allow her to check the surveillance video so she and her friend started driving.
Not the journey you'd expect to take 1 month after buying your dream truck...Jillian woke up to find her wallet & truck stolen. With no tracking device, she somehow managed to pick up the trail miles away and bring her 2017 Toyota Tacoma home. That's our story on @KSL5TV at 6 pic.twitter.com/LJgxrgVAdo
— Matt Rascon KSL (@MattRasconKSL) March 15, 2021
"I just had that feeling, you got to check where the apartments are," Orr said. "And I was like, 'Alright, let's go.'"
Not even an hour had passed when Orr spotted a woman driving something that looked familiar.
"That's the cover. Those are my tires. That's the lift," she remembers saying. "So, I pulled over to let her come out and get ahead of us, and then we just started tracking her."
Orr recently registered the truck and had not yet put on the new license plates. They were still in the cab. The truck she was following had different license plates. The woman pulled into an apartment complex and the moment she got out, Orr turned to her friend and said, "Now's the chance. We got to go now."
They pulled into the complex and parked around the corner where they could still see her and the truck. The woman went to the apartment complex and Orr pulled out her extra key fob and clicked the lock button. The lights on the truck flashed and Orr knew.
"That is my truck. And I found it and I was so excited. It was unbelievable and I immediately called 911," she said.
They told dispatch where they were and waited. Orr pressed the lock button again just to be sure and then the woman walked back out to the truck. She reached to open the door but couldn't. She began walking around the truck and Orr realized she had locked her out. The stolen key was inside.
Officers with the Unified Police Department responded minutes later and arrested the woman, who told them she was borrowing the truck from a friend and didn't know it was stolen.
Orr unlocked her truck and opened it to find it trashed. Officers also went through the truck, looking for evidence. The stereo control screen was ripped out. Cords connected to the rearview mirror were cut. There were fast food fries all over the place, mingled with other trash. Orr also said she found a paper that had several credit card numbers written out on it. One of the worst parts for her was the smell.
"It's like stepping into a casino how strong the cigarette smell is and it's disgusting," she said. "And I paid for that — they used my card to buy those cigarettes."
Smelly, dirty and damaged, the truck she worked so hard to buy was back. It was clear she was not willing to give up on it.
"Feels so good. I was determined. Determined," she said.
Orr started working with her insurance to get rid of the smell and replace the damaged parts.
She already has her next trip planned.
