KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A homeless family was left heartbroken on Friday after a thief stole their car and special belongings inside, including a bag of ashes of a deceased family member.
The crime occurred in the parking lot of the Salvation Army Crossroads shelter.
Hours after the crime, the woman whose car was stolen told 41 Action News that her family had recently fallen on hard times.
“I had lost my job about a month ago which caused me to lose our place of living,” Tina Fantroy explained. “We were sleeping in the car for two to three days until they got an opening here at the shelter for us to come here.”
The hard times were made even tougher on Friday following the discovery of the crime.
“We just came out to start the car to take the kids to school and that’s when I realized my car was stolen,” she explained. “That’s my only transportation to be able to find work and be able to get them back and forth to school.”
Fantroy said the family kept a number of items and belongings inside the car, including her driver’s license, social security card, clothes and dishes.
A bag of ashes belonging to Tina’s brother, who passed away in July of 2016, were also left in the car.
“The ashes mean more to me than anything. That’s all that I have left of my brother,” she explained. “He meant more to me than any car would be.”
Following the car theft, the family put up a post on Facebook asking for help finding the car.
As of Friday night, the post had been shared almost a hundred times.
“I really appreciate that there is still people out there willing to help,” Fantroy said.
The missing car is a 1999 red Ford Crown Victoria with a tan top.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the car is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 816-474-TIPS.
