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Car stolen from Colorado Springs cancer patient

Posted at 5:35 PM, Nov 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-23 20:55:14-05

COLORADO SPRINGS – A News 5 viewer is going public with the story of her car theft hoping to reach the man who took it so he will realize the suffering he’s caused her family. Kathern Walton said her husband has stage four prostate cancer and the loss of their vehicle is hampering their ability to get him to his medical appointments.

“There’s no cure, but he does have hope in living a little longer by getting to his radiation treatments,” she said, holding back tears. “With the car being gone, he can’t make it. He (the car thief) doesn’t know what he’s done to us.”

The theft happened last Friday. Kathern and her husband took their dogs for a walk, not realizing they dropped the keys in the gutter. Security camera footage would later show that’s how the thief got in.

“It shows him reaching down on the ground picking something up and they can see the lights, because it’s got an automatic lock, and they can see the lights blinking,” Walton said. “That’s how they found the car.”

She said she’d actually spotted the man in the parking lot during their walk and recognized him as a former neighbor. She didn’t realize until the car was gone that he may have stolen it.

Kathern said the suspect had gotten into trouble before.

“He got evicted, he got kicked off the property because he had guns,” she said.

With help from other neighbors, Kathern learned the man’s identity and shared the information with police. At one point earlier this week, someone spotted him at the Penrose Library downtown, but officers were unable to catch up to him.

Kathern said another neighbor is letting them borrow her car as needed. In the meantime, she is losing hope of getting her car back.

“There’s no way the car is still around, he’s probably rolled it off the mountain somewhere or junked it,” she said. “I just want him caught.”

The car is a silver 2010 Hyundai Accent sedan with Colorado license plates. Please contact the Colorado Springs Police at 719-444-7000 with information that could help investigators.