Pregnant mom’s car stolen at car wash, taken on joyride before crash, Kissimmee police say

By LUANA MUNOZ

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    KISSIMMEE, Florida (WESH) — Helen Marie went to get her car washed in Kissimmee on Monday after dropping her two little girls off at day care.

She said she stepped away from her vehicle for a moment to retrieve her vehicle’s mats.

That’s when she saw someone get in her car.

At first, she thought it was an attendant moving her vehicle and then she realized something was wrong.

“When they put the vehicle in reverse. and I heard the tires screeching … it was an aggressive move,” Marie said. “I knew this wasn’t something typical or something you would expect.”

That’s when Marie realized her car had been stolen.

According to police records, the suspect is 33-year-old Chanel Aisha Anderson. She drove through the car wash, causing $20,000 in damage.

Anderson made her way to Vine Street and Thacker Avenue. Surveillance video from Express Phone Repair shows the vehicle crossing the center divide, hitting a series of vehicles and crashing into a tanker truck before hitting a pole.

Marie was not injured from the ordeal, but she is eight months pregnant and was taken to the hospital out of precaution.

“When I arrived at the hospital it was chaotic,” Marie said. “There were officers taking statements from everybody running into every room.”

Marie said the victims were from the other vehicles the suspect had hit.

Now, the single mother is trying to rebuild her life with no vehicle, making life even more of a struggle as she prepares for the birth of her baby boy.

“I had diapers in my vehicle at the time of the accident. Of course, me being a desperate single mom. I tried to salvage what I could from those diapers, but there were shards of glass in the diapers,” Marie said.

Helen has reached out to her insurance provider, but with liability coverage, she does not believe she will get any money to purchase a new car.

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