Single mother's car filled with children's Christmas gifts stolen from Phoenix driveway

Phoenix family targeted by thief who stole vehicle filled with Christmas gifts

Just weeks before Christmas, a Phoenix family woke up to find they were targeted by a real-life Grinch. FOX 10's Taylor Wirtz learns more from the family whose car full of gifts was stolen right from their driveway.

PHOENIX - Just weeks before Christmas, a Phoenix family woke up to find they were targeted by a real-life Grinch after their car was stolen.

Elizabeth Vasquez, a single mother, said she is not in the financial position to deal with this. She wishes she had at least taken the presents out of the car, but said she never thought something like this would happen.

The backstory:

When Vasquez’s son went to turn her car on for her Friday morning, he returned to her in shock.

"He came back inside and was like, 'Mom, my car's gone. Our car is gone,'" Vasquez said.

In its place was an orange and black scooter, which Vasquez assumes whoever took the car used to get to her house.

"I just started breaking down right away and thinking, you know, somebody stole it. And right away, I just called the police," she said.

Why you should care:

It wasn’t until later that she remembered what had been inside her gray 2016 Hyundai Sonata: the spoils of a day’s worth of Christmas shopping for her two boys.

"We actually had a bike for the little one and a couple of books and a couple little more toys," Vasquez said.

As a single mother, Vasquez said the theft couldn’t have come at a worse time.

"It's very frustrating that this happened to us right now, especially during Christmas," she said, adding that they rely on the car to "get them to school and to get groceries and all that stuff, appointments. And we can't do any of that anymore."

Dig deeper:

She said that trying to explain to her boys why someone would do this, especially during the holidays, is just as difficult.

"They just kept saying, 'Where's our car?' And 'it was a stranger that took it,'" Vasquez said. "They're like, 'why would someone do that to us during this month?'"

She’s still trying to understand it herself.

"I just never thought someone would come into our yard and do something like that to us," she said.

Vasquez hopes her family's Grinch will grow a bigger heart and leave the car somewhere police can find it.

"It don't matter if it's just the side of the road in the middle of the road. I don't care at this point. I just. We just really need our car back," Vasquez said.

What's next:

Phoenix Police said they are on the case, and if anyone sees the car anywhere, call them. 

What you can do:

A GoFundMe was set up for the family to help replace the car.