One mom in Howell is wishing for a Christmas do over after someone found and stole all of the presents she had for her special needs child.
Wendy McPhee says it's even more of a mystery because there were no signs of forced entry. She thought she had the perfect place to stow away Christmas gifts – inside a locked, empty apartment. It sounded like an alright place. She was the only one that was supposed to have a key, but that plan was too good to be true.
"All we wanted was a Christmas miracle," said Abigail McPhee, Wendy's daughter. "All we wanted was something good to happen and I didn't get that."
On Christmas morning, Abby expected the day to be special. She's cognitively challenged and her wish was simple:
"I was hoping to get coloring books, the tablet that I could play on… just stuff that my mom got me," Abby said.
The family is in the middle of a move, so Abby's mom Wendy thought the location was perfect to hide gifts.
"I thought, what a great place to hide Christmas presents because our closets are empty, she could easily find them," Wendy said.
But Wendy says already there were signs of problems at the new place.
"Someone wrestled through boxes in my kitchen that weren't open, so that was one experience," Wendy said. "Another time it was the cigarettes."
When she told management at the apartment that someone had been inside, she says she was shrugged off. Then, it was time for Christmas and over 30 presents stored for Abby inside the empty place – worth roughly $500 – were gone.
"I walked in the door and the gifts just weren't there," Wendy said. "I called management to tell them and they told me that all they could do is change the lock. (Abby) was beyond devastated. And it breaks my heart how much she's hurting even though I know she understands that Christmas is about love and your family. I just can't imagine who could do this to children and steal their Christmas presents."
Abby added, "The man that took our stuff from us, he will forever be rotten to me. He will forever be in a place where he needs to learn his lesson and I'm going to put my foot down and I'm going to say it's not right, it's not OK and no one should have to go through this."
The McPhee's filed a police report with the Michigan State Police. 7 Action News tried getting hold of Lakeshore Village Apartments but have not heard back.
