ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — There’s a special bond between a teenager and their first car. For Kaitlyn Scripter, that would be the blue Hyundai Tucson she affectionately named "Gerdy."
“I’m really connected to my car. She has a name, her name's Gerdy,” Scripter said. "All my friends know my car. I've done a lot in it."
But last week as Scripter was babysitting a neighbor, Gerdy went missing. With distinct stickers and writing, neighbors and friends reported seeing it driving around town.
“Three people in school came up and were like 'hey, I saw your car driving around on 13 Mile and Crooks,'” Scripter said.
Four days later, Royal Oak police found the car left behind at the scene of another stolen car on a residential street near 12 Mile and Rochester roads. The car stolen from that home was later found near 12 Mile and Main Street.
Police were also able to obtain surveillance video of the suspect walking away from the car. They've since connected the suspect to four stolen vehicles since late January.
“At first, it was just three stolen cars in five days, which is a lot for us," said Lt. Rich Millard of the Royal Oak Police Department. "Then you had the surveillance video and could see it was a younger person.”
Days later, police found another stolen car near 13 Mile and Crooks roads. Officers staked out the car and waited until the suspect returned to the car where he was then arrested.
That's when they learned the suspect was a local 14-year-old boy. He was using nothing but a screwdriver and a USB cord to steal the vehicles and drive them around. The relatively simple hack for Kia and Hyundai vehicles has been going viral online in recent years, with simple video instructions on how to do it.
"I could guess he (suspect) probably got it off the internet," Millard said.
“I've heard from a couple of my friends it's all over Tik Tok," said Scripter. "How you can steal Hyundais and Kias.”
While Gerdy is back safe and sound, the ignition was ripped out. So now for the time being, Scripter is using USB cords to start her car and drive it.
"Yeah these are my keys right now,” Scripter said in reference to multiple tangled up USB cords in her car. "You can just put it in there. You have to turn it pretty hard, but it starts my whole car and you can just drive it.”
Although Scripter has to fix her ignition, she’s thankful Gerdy is back in one piece and shocked there’s no other damage or items missing, despite a weekend joyride from a 14-year-old boy.
“I was pretty surprised. Definitely thought being a young kid, there would be stuff gone," said Scripter. "The 5 dollars that were on the ground, that they would take it or anything else of value in the car, but they didn't take anything at all.”
The 14-year-old has been charged with multiple felonies and is currently in custody at Oakland County Children's Village.
