Family loses ‘everything’ when thieves steal packed U-Haul truck

DENVER (KCNC) - Imagine everything you have is stolen in just a few seconds.

A Denver family said this happened to them after their packed moving truck was stolen last week.

Gabriale Voeltner said they packed their entire lives into a U-Haul truck, preparing for a move from downtown Denver to a neighborhood in Westminster.

“We were trying to be polite neighbors and not move in the middle of the night,” Voeltner said.

The family said they spent one last night in their old apartment and parked the 20-foot U-Haul outside.

“We checked on it at night and by the morning it was gone,” Voeltner said.

The family said they realized they had just lost all of their furniture, clothes and possessions.

“Everything that we have on is all that we have left,” Voeltner said.

But the family said something far more valuable was taken.

“It was my husband’s ashes; it was my mom’s ashes. It was our first family pet’s ashes. All of the love letters that my husband wrote me, all of the pictures he ever drew for our kids,” Voeltner said.

Voeltner said her husband, and father of their four kids, died in 2017.

“They [thieves] took the last thing that we had of him,” she said.

Voeltner said her mother died two years ago and the family pet died last year.

“We had a beautiful urn and memorabilia set up for her, and they took that too,” Voeltner said.

The family said Denver police have been notified of the incident, but the U-Haul truck does not have GPS.

Now, they are wanting those responsible to at least leave the remains inside the truck if they abandon the vehicle somewhere.

“You can take all the valuable stuff, but I just hope they see the sentimental stuff and just leave it,” Voeltner said.

The Voeltner family said the U-Haul is from Arizona and it has an octopus-painted design on it.

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