They thought they had found the perfect rental home in the perfect neighborhood to care for their wheelchair-bound daughter, but the Cullett family soon learned it was too good to be true.
"We moved in and within a week of being here our van got stolen... right out... it was locked up and everything. It was stolen," April Cullett said.
For her daughter, 16-year old Kenzi, it meant her world would get a lot smaller.
Suddenly, catching a bus to school or even leaving the house would become much more difficult than ever before.
The family needed a miracle.
"Some friends of ours have a son that they just lost this last summer and they had a van---his van and they lent it to us so we could get our daughter to and from the school bus,” April Cullett said. “And it was stolen Sunday night at 6:45 right out of our driveway completely locked up."
Two vans were stolen from outside the same house in as many weeks, and both were discovered later wrecked, trashed and abandoned.
Both are late-model Dodge Caravans, which not only make good service vehicles, but are also easier than most to steal.
"We're continuing to investigate the theft of both vehicles,” said Elise Armacost of the Baltimore County Police Department. “We have no information at this time about the suspects as to whether it's the same in both cases. We just don't know that."
A close friend knew that the Culletts deserved better, and she's started a GoFundMe pagethat's drawn more than 30 pledges totaling more than $3,000 in its first week alone.
It's just the first step in trying to restore their daughter's mobility and their faith in a world where some bad things can happen to good people.
"It's just a destructive act and that's what so heartbreaking about it is we're just trying to get our children to the places they need to be and she can't go anywhere without that van,” April Cullett said. “And for it to be just senselessly destroyed, it's really heartbreaking."
The family lives on a dead end street, and right now, it's all they can do to get Kenzi on and off the bus to get her to school.
Her doctor's appointments have been put on hold.
Download the ABC2 News app for the iPhone, Kindle and Android.
