A life-changing crime, just 24 hours after a life changing journey. Michele Dudzic and her family, including her husband and two boys, ages 10 and 12, had just moved back to Lincoln Park after spending a year and a half in Tennessee.
“Just with the coronavirus and everything I think just certain states and places are affected differently and he just wasn’t getting the work there,” said Dudzic of her husband, a truck driver.
However, before they could move in, some final touches were still being finished on their home so they decided to wait it out with family and their belongings from the move still in a trailer.
That trailer was stolen Tuesday night, roughly 24 hours after arriving in Michigan.
“Everybody’s stuff was in there, from a long time ago," Dudzic said. "You know the last 15 years since we’ve been out and just building… all those things you build over the years. You pick up something here you pick up something there. You keep things. My mom passed away a few years ago. All her keepsakes that were handed down to me. gone. There were irreplaceable pictures irreplaceable baby things I kept in there, gone."
In the truck, along with bicycles for the boys, were the family’s essentials: towels, clothes and more.
A nearby doorbell camera did not see the trailer being driven away, so the family believes the thieves must have headed toward Dix Highway on Philomene.
Dudzic is unsure if detectives have looked though surveillance video from the nearby Kroger for any leads. She believes time is running out to get her precious belongings back.
“How could you? How could you open that trailer and see all of those things that belong to a family, a family of four, that means nothing to them but means a world to us?” Dudzic said. “I don’t like to ask for help. It's definitely not for me. I try my best to do what I can on my own especially because everyone has their own problems and tragedies.”
A GoFundMe account has been setup on the family’s behalf to help with essential costs:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-family-replace-stolen-belongings
