A theft victim turned into a detective after she spotted a mystery vehicle that she thinks is tied to a rash of crimes in her Mission Valley neighborhood.
Katie Mannocheri who lives near Mission Heights Park, says a group of thieves is targeting the area but using the same getaway car.
“We are fed up,” said Mannocheri.
Her ordeal began with a missing package two weeks ago.
A check of her surveillance video shows a man snatching the package and then raiding her mailbox.
“It was scary because you don't know what his intentions are," said Mannocheri. "Does he have my social security number? Does he have my credit card information? What does he have now?”
Twelve seconds after he leaves the frame in the video, an SUV drives by.
“It was a silver Mitsubishi Montero Sport with a lot of damage from the front bumper to the back bumper,” said Mannocheri.
Others neighbors say they've seen that same SUV before.
“It's very noticeable. We’ve had quite a few package thefts in the area," she said. "It’s the same car hitting everybody's house."
A few doors door, one neighbor showed us his surveillance video, which recently captured a man stealing his package, then tossing it into an SUV similar to the one in Mannocheri’s video.
Fast forward to a few days after Mannocheri's package vanished.
“My heart started beating very quickly,” said Mannocheri.
Mannocheri says she saw the SUV driving around while she was in her car. Mannocheri says she followed it and saw it park in front of a home.
“A lady gets out of the side of the car, just walks very easily, nonchalantly grabs the package and slowly walks back the car as not to grab any attention,” said Mannocheri.
Mannocheri says she snapped a clear photo of the SUV and reported the license plate number to police. She says in the latest package theft, the thief was a middle-aged woman with long dark hair and the getaway driver was a man in his 30's with dark hair.
