Thief steals more than a U-Haul trailer

POST FALLS — Rachael Garwick said she is just trying to move on with her life.

But the theft of a U-Haul trailer early Thursday morning from the parking lot of a Post Falls hotel has put a halt to those plans.

“He just walked up, locked on, and left with it,” Garwick said as she recalled to The Press what she saw on hotel surveillance footage. “So now I’m stuck here.”

The trailer, according to Garwick, was storing important documents like birth certificates, as well as the majority of the clothing she and her three kids own.

“It’s nothing valuable, but it’s important,” she added. “It’s everything we have.”

Garwick said she is originally from Tacoma, Wash., but recently attempted to relocate to Kootenai County. The move didn’t work out as she expected and Garwick said she and her children were left homeless.

So the woman secured a job in Tri-Cities, Wash., got financial help in renting a small U-Haul to attach to her Chevy Impala, and was prepared to move.

Post Falls Police Cpt. Greg McLean told The Press Thursday that, according to initial reports, a man driving a 1990s, gold-colored Ford F-150 appeared in the parking lot at 2:25 a.m. In an instant, the thief removed the trailer from Garwick’s Impala and attached it to the truck.

McLean added investigators are still attempting to get the license plate number of the vehicle.

When thefts of trailers occur, McLean said it is common that the perpetrator will get the trailer to an out-of-the-way location before grabbing what they want from it and leaving the trailer behind. In those instances, he added, police often recover the trailer within a week of the initial theft.

McLean encouraged anyone who might have information on the trailer, or the gold truck, to contact their local law enforcement agency.

In the meantime, Garwick said she is stuck in Post Falls. Since all of her family’s identifying documents were in the trailer, she said she likely won’t be able to get assistance from local organizations that help the homeless.

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be up here for now,” Garwick said. “This is horrible and shocking. I just want them caught.”