Zach Judd, 15, is in critical but stable condition in hospital.
Since an October car crash killed four people and put her youngest son in hospital, Desiree Judd had been stuck in limbo.
Zach Judd, 16, has spent months recovering in an Edmonton hospital five hours from his family home in Grande Prairie, Alta., and his mother has been by his side throughout it all. She left work and rented an apartment near the hospital during the treatment, and has seen him wake from a coma, regain his strength and resume walking and running. Relatives in Grande Prairie have helped care for her two other children.
On Wednesday morning, the family's life was dealt another complication when Ms. Judd went downstairs just before 9 o'clock to drive Zach to the hospital for his daily treatment.
"We walked into the parkade, and there was nothing there," Ms. Judd said. Her blue 2002 Dodge Durango had been stolen. All that remained in the stall inside the secure parking garage was a pile of broken glass.
With the SUV went hospital documents and other paperwork; a pair of LeBron James sneakers that Zach got as a gift the day he came out of the coma; signed cards sent during Zach's recovery; Edmonton Eskimo paraphernalia signed and delivered after the crash; an MVP trophy; and a hoodie from Zach's high school, where he and the four boys who died in the crash played football.
"I just can't believe people would do this kind of thing. You know, you see what the community and what the people did for us when the accident happened. And it takes one person to do something like this and it just kind of takes it all away," Ms. Judd told reporters on Wednesday, wiping away tears.
It had left the single mother of three without a vehicle. She had liability insurance, but no theft coverage, and turned to the media to make a public appeal for its return.
Eight hours later, she got the news she had been hoping for – an Edmonton police constable (who hadn't seen her public appeals) had stumbled across her car.
"He was driving around and saw a Durango that matched the description on the list," Ms. Judd said Wednesday night. A signed Edmonton Eskimos helmet (which the team had replaced earlier in the day) and some shoes were missing, but medical documents, a signed football and other memorabilia were still in the vehicle, which had a smashed driver's side window.
"I was hoping to get it all back. They obviously took an inventory of what they wanted or found interesting," Ms. Judd said.
The happy ending came roughly a week after Zach was discharged from hospital, but he still needs an estimated two more weeks of day-patient treatment before the family can return to Grande Prairie for good. Ms. Judd had packed her son's belongings from his hospital room in the car in preparation for a trip home for the Family Day long weekend and left it in the parkade, which is locked and requires key access. It had no camera.
The Oct. 22 crash killed Zach's classmates Matthew Deller, Vincent Stover, Walter Borden-Wilkins and Tanner Hildebrand. The 21-year-old driver of the other vehicle faces 16 charges, including four of impaired driving causing death.
As of Wednesday, Edmonton police had responded to 281 reports of stolen cars this year. Cars stolen for a joyride are found regularly, Edmonton police spokesman Chad Orydzuk said, while those stolen to be broken apart aren't found often.
Ms. Judd was just happy to have her vehicle back, regardless of who took it.
"At the end, it comes down to: they're going to have to live with themselves," she said.