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Stolen vintage car recovered thanks to social media

Posted at 5:09 PM, Oct 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-07 19:51:44-04

Tanner Maeder’s 1967 Chevy Chevelle is his dream car, that’s why it came as a blow when it was stolen on Thursday afternoon.

Maeder parked the car in the Crossroads near 21st and Central.

"You see all these people you hear all these stories about how their car, getting stolen and no one finds them I just figured that was going to be my case," said Maeder.

Maeder says he locked his car, and believes someone pried the window open and then hotwired the car.

Maeder called his buddy Daniel Shaver to cancel lunch and called police. It was Shaver’s girlfriend who told him the car should be posted on Stolen KC

"The first thing out of her mouth was you need to post it on stolen KC," said Shaver.  

The car was posted to Stolen KC around noon and within 45 minutes the car was found abandoned at I-70 and Manchester by someone who saw the post online.

"Within 45 of it showing up somewhere it's just pretty miraculous," said Maeder.

The creator of Stolen KC’s Facebook page says stolen cars are found three to five times a week by people using the page. He says it's a matter of power by numbers the group page has over 54,000 users.

"It's a channel, there's eyes all over it, absolutely, if I had something taken from me immediately that is the first thing that I am going to do is get it out there so as many eyes as fast as possible can look at it," said Shaver.  

Even though the thief damaged the car Maeder says he is happy to have the timeless piece back in his possession. He also recommends taken advantage of social media.

"Hopefully they have the luck that I have and the support and friends that I have throughout the town and get the car back to them," said Maeder.  

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