Senior psychology major Chloe LaPlante parked her Toyota RAV4 outside of her house on Berkley Road around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
She claims that, earlier that night, she had locked her car and brought her keys inside. The next day, LaPlante walked to class like normal and got ready to go to the gym with a friend at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 3.
When her friend arrived to drive them to the gym, she parked in LaPlante’s normal parking spot — prompting LaPlante to look around for her friend’s car, who normally doesn’t fully park when picking LaPlante up.
“I looked over and heard a car running [where] she was parked in my spot,” LaPlante said. “It took me a second to register. I was like, ‘Where the hell is my car?’”
As soon as she noticed the car was gone, LaPlante called the Butler University Police Department (BUPD), and an officer was dispatched to her house. Since reporting the incident, she has not received any updates.
“[Stuff] happens, but at least [me and my roommates] are all safe,” LaPlante said. “I was honestly mostly dumbfounded because this is the first time I’ve ever dealt with something like this. It was in the middle of campus [too].”
LaPlante said she is still in possession of both copies of her car keys and her license. However, modern RAV4s are notoriously easy to steal — something LaPlante did not know before experiencing it herself.
LaPlante doesn’t have any expectation of police finding the car, and is already driving a rental while working with her insurance company.
“It has been a week, and we haven’t heard anything, so I’ve just accepted the fact that it is gone,” LaPlante said. “I feel like it was probably stripped for parts or sold.”
The Butler Collegian reached out to BUPD Chief of Police John Conley for comment, who provided a statement by email.
“[It] was a simple motor vehicle theft with no further info, no suspects, no video and no evidence left at the scene. The vehicle was entered into the National Data Base so if recovered, [the case] will be reactivated.”
The Butler Collegian will continue to report on this story as it develops.