Navy family's car stolen, returned full of drug paraphernalia in Oceanway

A Navy family’s car was stolen with thousands of dollars’ worth of their belongings inside while they were moving into their new Oceanway home.

The father just returned from deployment three months ago.

When they got the car back, all their stuff was gone.

Now it smells like an ash tray and mother Ashlee Tennell said she found needles and crack pipes inside.

“It’s sad because we just moved here and you want to feel comfortable in our brand new house that we worked so hard for,” said Tennell.

She said her family was exhausted from moving and the car was full of her son’s toys, birthday presents, all her textbooks for school and two laptops.

“We got home at 2:16 a.m. And I remember saying to my husband, 'do you want to unload the car or let’s just go to bed because we’re tired?' And that’s what we did. We went to bed,” said Tennell.

Surveillance video shows the thieves driving it out of the neighborhood.

Most of all, she said she was heartbroken that a necklace her husband gave her as an anniversary gift while he was deployed was in the car.

“It was two rings put together and he said, you know, ‘We’re two people but we’ve been put together and we can’t be broken,’” said Tennell.

Five days after the car disappeared, JSO arrested Ciara Tillman behind the wheel of Tennell’s car.

The necklace wasn’t there.

The family found a notepad in the car when they got it back. Inside, there’s a to-do list. One of the things on the list: “Look for a job.”

That family said they’ve now purchased security cameras and a gun.

Cox Media Group