HOPEWELL, Va. -- Nearly 30 days after it was stolen, a Hopewell man has his truck back. However, the vehicle's journey home came with thousands of added miles, some damage, and a new color.
Someone stole Darrell Tate's 2014 Ford F-150 Eco-Boost 28 days ago.
A quick-thinking night clerk at a Chesterfield County Motel helped bring the truck back to Tate.
The clerk thought the people parking the truck were suspicious so he called the police.
The police then determined that the truck at the motel was actually the one stolen out of Tate's driveway.
When police found the truck, it had stolen South Carolina license plates on it. The plates had been renewed the day before the truck was recovered by police.
The truck had almost 7,000 new miles on it, or around 250 miles for every day it was gone.
The truck, which was red, was painted black.
"The windshield currently has black spray paint still on it. They must not have taped the window," Darrell's wife Jennifer said.
The truck also has damage to it that wasn't there before it was stolen.
On top of the two front speakers of the truck being blown out, the truck has exterior damage as well.
"They hit something, a deer or something, some kind of animal," Darrell said.
"Well, the bumper is cracked, the front license plate is missing and there's blood under here as well as hair," Jennifer said.
While the truck's Bluetooth feature is now missing, Jennifer believes someone used it.
"They must have attached their phone to the Bluetooth so that they were able to communicate handsfree or either for music," she said.
A number of things were also stolen from inside of the truck.
"We're missing a chair, our children's car seats, the owner's manual, an electric drill, and the jack and the funnel to put gas in the gas tank," Jennifer said.
Now, it's up to the insurance company to determine if they'll fix the truck or declare it totaled.
Police have dusted the truck for fingerprints and the Tate family is hopeful that the thief will be caught.
Chesterfield Police investigators said with that amount of mileage traveled in such a short time, it was possible the truck was used to move drugs or part of a prostitution ring.
