“He came on so slow, so casual. You could tell our house was targeted.”
That’s how Amanda Costa describes the man who targeted her home in Surrey’s Clayton Heights neighbourhood in a brazen early morning theft — a crime that was caught on camera.
Even more shocking, the thief used a U-Haul truck, backing it right up in to her driveway to load up the ill-gotten gains.
The incident happened about 5 a.m. on Monday, while Costa, her husband and her two young children were still asleep.
It wasn’t until her husband got up that morning to take their young son to daycare that the family noticed all of their patio furniture was gone.
A quick review of the footage from their doorbell camera revealed something unexpected.
“The guy just casually walked onto our property and took one item at a time and just took everything, both chairs, all the cushions, the tables, everything,” she said.
“And it looks like he loaded it into a U-Haul, backed it right into our driveway then took off, hit other houses.”
In the video, the thief can be seen calmly loading the furniture into the back of the vehicle as if he was supposed to be there.
The entire incident lasted under two minutes before he drove away.
“You feel violated. I just had a newborn two and a half weeks ago, I’m still healing, I’m sleep deprived, I wake up in the morning to see my patio furniture gone?” Costa said.
“It’s heartbreaking because my older son who is three-and-a-half years old, we used to sit outside and wait for my husband to come home, and my son would be jumping up and down on the chairs excited to see his daddy.
“Now, with the cost of living, I can’t really afford to replace it. I feel like now with that happening, I’m going to lose that experience with my son and also with my newborn.”
Costa posted about the theft to a local Facebook group, and received several replies from nearby neigbours who said they were targeted the same way the same night.
In one case, the thief also made off with patio furniture, while in another he took a single garden hose.
Surrey RCMP confirmed it had been called to two complaints about patio furniture theft, one in the 7100 block of 190 Street and the other in the 18800 block of 68A Avenue.
Police obtained security video in both incidents to help with the investigation.
Costa said she’s hopeful, but not holding her breath that investigators will catch the thief.
“In an ideal world, yes,” she said. “But realistically I don’t think it’s going to come back. I wish it would.”