‘Just bring it back': Woman pleads for sick dad's classic car after it was stolen from repair shop
But now, the 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS is gone. Natasha Eckles said someone stole it from a car repair shop in Forest Park.
'Yeah, I wanted to give that one ride, or I wanted him to ride in that car. That one ride,' Eckles told Channel 2's Tom Jones, holding back tears.
Eckles remembers hearing her father arrive home in it even before he got there.
'You could hear my dad coming, like 'vroom, vroom.' Like daddy's coming,' she said.
She was elated when he gave her the car. Eckles said it was the star attraction whenever she took it for a ride.
'Everybody wants that car. I can pull my car out to go anywhere and it's gonna get attention,' Eckles said.
TRENDING STORIES:
Former Georgia Police Academy instructor charged with child molestation
1 dead, 4 in critical condition after crash at busy Atlanta intersection
Attorneys reveal settlement amount between Marjorie Taylor Greene's ex-husband, 3 Muslim women
It got the wrong kind of attention April 9 around 12:30 that morning.
The car was at TJ's Automotive on Jonesboro Road when video surveillance showed someone dropped off near the shop. You see a shadowy figure walk over to Eckles' car. Then the headlights on her prized Chevelle SS come on, and the classic car takes off.
'My heart dropped,' Eckles said after seeing the video.
She couldn't believe it when the owner called her and told her it was gone.
'Of course it's gonna be gone. Right. It's an SS Chevelle. It's hot,' Eckles said.
She said she specifically requested the owner not leave her car outside.
'You made a promise to me that you didn't keep. You said you would not put my car outside. And you put it outside,' she said.
Repair shop owner Tim Jones said he put her car outside that night because he had a transmission job he was doing the next morning and he needed the bay it was in.
He admits it was a bad decision.
Eckles just wants her car returned. She had this message for whoever took it.
'Don't tear it up. Just bring it back. Just please give me my car back,' Eckles said.
Forest Park police are investigating. The shop owner apologized profusely and said he is offering a $5,000 reward for the return of the car.
Eckles says she will match that.
She said that car has so much sentimental value it's important to get it back.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
38 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
An attack on a Congolese church killed nearly 40 worshippers. Here's what to know
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nearly 40 people were killed Sunday in eastern Congo's Ituri province when rebels stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire on worshippers, including many women and children. At least 38 people were confirmed dead in the church while another five were killed in a nearby village. The victims included 19 men, 15 women and nine children. The attacks in Komanda town in the conflict-battered region were carried out by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group backed by the Islamic State that has mostly targeted villagers in eastern Congo and across the border in Uganda, the Congolese army said. The ADF arose from tensions in neighboring Uganda The ADF has roots in Uganda in the 1990s. Following the overthrow of long-term dictator, Idi Amin, a coalition of various discontent groups saw the new government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni as anti-Muslim. Since then, the group has grown into a potent force but has been pushed out of Uganda's territories and now operates in the borderlands between Uganda and Congo, often targeting civilians in remote villages. ADF leaders pledged allegiance in 2019 to the Islamic State and have sought to establish an Islamic caliphate in Uganda. Eastern Congo has been beleaguered by protracted conflicts for decades, dating back to the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The conflicts have involved more than a hundred armed groups, according to the United Nations. The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group is the most prominent and launched a blitz of attacks in January in a major escalation culiminating in its capture of two key cities in the region. The Congolese and Ugandan armies have targeted the ADF in a joint military effort but analysts say it has done little, even as the rebels attack civilians. 'These joint operations have only succeeded in dispersing the ADF without really protecting civilians from their wrathful reprisals,' said Onesphore Sematumba, the Congo analyst at the International Crisis Group. This presents complex headaches for the overstretched Congolese army, which is occupied with advances by M23 and other rebel groups in the mineral-rich region. 'The ADF is taking more or less the advantage of the Congolese army's and international diplomacy's focus on the M23 further south without attracting too much attention,' Sematumba said. Attack targeted worshippers at midnight The church attack Sunday was the latest in a series of deadly ADF assaults on civilians, including earlier this month when the group killed 66 people in Ituri province. The attack happened July 11 around 1 a.m. during a vigil at a Catholic church in Komanda, civil society leaders and survivors. It followed an attack a few hours earlier in the nearby village of Machongani, where five people were killed and houses razed. The attackers were believed to have come from a stronghold about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Komanda and fled before security forces arrived. Attack expected to worsen situation The attack Sunday has sent shockwaves around the Central African country, which is currently embroiled in numerous conflicts. The Congolese government condemned it as 'horrific" while the military described it as a 'large-scale massacre' carried out in revenge for recent security operations targeting the ADF. However, M23 used the attack to accuse the governemnt of 'blatant incompetence' in attempts to protect citizens.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
Landlord imprisoned for decades in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American family has died
A landlord sentenced to decades in prison after he killed a Palestinian American boy and wounded his mother has died. Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen. The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which started days earlier. Czuba died Thursday in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to a statement from the Will County Sheriff's Office. Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office, said in a statement on Saturday that 'this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well.' Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict. The family had been renting rooms in Czuba's home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened. Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy's mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier. Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives. The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds, and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.
USA Today
21 hours ago
- USA Today
Man who murdered Palestinian American 6-year-old boy dies in custody, officials say
Joseph Czuba died in Illinois Department of Corrections custody on July 24, a spokesperson for the Will County Sheriff's Office said. The Illinois landlord convicted for the murder of a Palestinian American 6-year-old boy died in custody, officials said. Joseph Czuba, 73, fatally stabbed the child, Wadee Alfayoumi, over two dozen times times days after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. Prosecutors called the killing a hate-filled attack because he and his mother, Hanaan Shaheen, were Muslim. The murder came after Czuba and Shaheen spoke about the onset of the Middle East conflict. Shaheen and Alfayoumi, a kindergartner, rented two rooms from Czuba in Plainfield, a suburb about 40 miles outside Chicago. In February, a jury found Czuba guilty of murder, hate crime and attempted murder charges for the attack. A state circuit court judge in May sentenced him to 53 years in prison. Czuba died in Illinois Department of Corrections custody on July 24, Kevin Hedemark, a spokesperson for the Will County Sheriff's Office, said in an email. Hedemark referred questions − including about the cause of Czuba's death − to state officials, who didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. In the days before the attack, Czuba told Shaheen to move out because of her family's faith. On Oct. 14, 2023, Czuba entered the bedroom of Alfayoumi's mother, Hanaan Shaheen, and attacked her with a military-style knife, prosecutors said. While she locked herself in the bathroom waiting for help, Czuba then attacked Alfayoumi, stabbing him 26 times. Shaheen called 911, saying Czuba was killing her baby. Will County Sheriff's deputies found Alfayoumi on a bed with multiple stab wounds to his chest and the knife protruding from his torso. Czuba also stabbed Shaheen multiple times. Alfayoumi's grandfather previously told reporters no sentence would reconcile the loss his family will forever suffer. 'It doesn't matter what the numbers are," Mahmoud Yousef said at the time. "He took a life from us. He took a future." Alfayoumi's murder took place a week after Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and 250 others were taken hostage. Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians since the start of the war, according to Hamas-run health resources. In Gaza, about a quarter of the 2.1 million people in the Palestinian territory face famine-like conditions, with thousands suffering from acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations World Food Program. Deaths from starvation among children have been chronicled by the World Health Organization and doctors. Contributing: Chris Cannon, USA TODAY; Reuters
