CORBETT, Ore. — Update (4/14/22): The couple's stolen U-Haul truck, car and trailer were recovered by Portland police. The vehicle was not damaged, but most of their belongings were gone from the U-Haul, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said.
Original story (4/13/22):
A couple moving from California to the Columbia River Gorge just lost everything they own after someone stole their U-Haul from a Troutdale hotel parking lot.
Melissa Enoch-Rex and her husband were just ten minutes from their new home when they decided to stay at the Comfort Inn in Troutdale overnight. When they woke up Wednesday morning they found out that their U-Haul truck was gone, all of their belongings with it. Their car, a 1990 Mazda Miata, was on a trailer attached to the U-Haul — it was gone too.
When they first got to the hotel, a woman working the front desk told them to make sure they parked their truck in front of the building because there had been recent thefts in the area recently. The couple's moving truck was stolen just hours after they moved it in front of the Comfort Inn.
The woman who was working the front desk told investigators that she saw the truck drive off just after four in the morning, and that she called police right after, but it was too late.
Melissa Enoch-Rex said that she’s still in shock after her family’s belongings were stolen. She said she had an antique dress collection and some of her grandmother’s silver. What matters the most to her, however, are the pictures that were inside that moving truck — pictures she’s worried she’ll never get back.
“Obviously furniture, clothing ... it was our whole lives, but I just keep remembering my son's photos from when he was young,” said Enoch-Rex.
What she wants back the most are those sentimental things that only matter to her.
The U-Haul truck has Arizona license plate number AJ28920, and the 1990 Mazda Miata has a distinctive yellow spoiler on the back, with California license plate 7ZKC265.
If you have seen the stolen truck or the stolen car, call the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.