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LEHI — It has been two weeks of cleaning up for the Brown family after their home was trashed by a thief who managed to get their garage door opener and their address from their car parked at the airport.
"The pain and anguish of having to redo everything, it's like starting your life all over," Blake Brown said.
Earlier this month, the family came home from a week-long trip to find their car was parked on a different level of the airport parking garage and was rummaged through.
When they drove home, they realized someone had broken in and trashed every room in the house, with an estimated $15,000 worth of items stolen. The family's second car was also stolen.
This week, KSL-TV received images, through a GRAMA request, of a man suspected of breaking into the car and home, who they say was caught on surveillance video driving the Browns' car at the airport parking garage.
"I've never seen this guy before in my life," Brown said when seeing the man's images for the first time. "What a dirt bag!"
Brown recognized the shoes the man was wearing, as they were prototype shoes that were in the family's home.
"I had them in my office because we were working on a project for them," Brown, who is the vice president of Utah-based shoe company Kizik, said, laughing.
Seeing the shoes on the man leads the family to believe he must have broken into the car, gone to the family's Lehi home, and come back to the airport a second time with the car's second key, which allowed him to drive it.
"They must've came to our house first, then tried to go back. I don't know, these are the things I'm trying to make sense of," Brown said.
The Lehi Police Department said the images of the man suspected to have taken the car are from June 6 — four days after the family parked their car.
"The video just shows him casually going down the stairs," Jeanteil Livingston, spokeswoman for the Lehi Police Department, said. "I think he was trying to blend in with the public."
Lehi police are looking into if anyone else was involved.
The man in the images is white and in his late 30s to 40s, with brown hair and a tattoo on his right leg. He was also seen driving a dark blue Kia Sportage.
Police do not know who the owner of the vehicle is and if they are involved. If you recognize the man or have any information, call Lehi police.
