LIBERTY, Mo. — Thieves were caught on camera stealing $50,000 worth of items from a Liberty family's home.
The Shackelfords flew to Montana to visit family for the holidays after parking their truck in the economy lot. They left and didn’t think twice about it.
But the family of five came back to stolen cars and videos of people inside their house.
“I felt very vulnerable,” Justin Shackelford said. “I took a picture because the parking lot was so big, and I said, 'My truck's not here.' I’m clicking the key fob the whole time.”
The crime didn’t end there, surveillance video shows people had ransacked their home.
“It was the sense of being violated,” Caley Shackelford said. “You feel like, 'Do we want to keep this house?' We just had moved here.”
Caley believes the thieves got their address from inside the stolen truck’s glove box.
“They looked at our insurance, it had to have been from the truck. I just printed out a new insurance card,” she said.
Computers, iPads, guns, strollers, money saved up for a wedding ring, two vehicles and all of Justin’s work tools were taken.
“That first night I just laid in bed until five in the morning, until the sun came up,” he said.
For Caley, what she wants most isn't tangible.
“The things I want they can’t give,” she said. “You want to feel safe in your home, and that’s something we have to work on as a family, and that will take time.”
An unexpected lesson the Shackelfords were forced to learn.
“Coming from Montana [being] less populous, you take things for granted,” Justin Shackelford said. “There are just things we’re learning as we go, that’s the biggest thing. We should have taken more steps to prepare our home for leaving.”
The Liberty Police Department tells KSHB 41 News it's investigating and working with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department.
To be extra precautious, police say to take out personal documents from the glove box, such as a garage opener, and even unplug the battery.
After the move to Missouri, the Shackelfords are trying to rebuild their possessions with a fundraiser.
