Car accidentally stolen by dog-sitting mother eventually returned to rightful owner

Nekisia Davis' mother, Cheryl Thorpe, accidentally stole a car. "She felt really guilty but she has a good sense of humour and we've been laughing about it a lot," said Nekisia of Brooklyn. But Emilee Hickert, also of Brooklyn, wasn't laughing when earlier this month, she returned to where she parked her Honda - and found it was gone.



"We walked back to the car and it was just an empty space," said Hickert. This tale began when Nekisia and two friends took off for a long weekend. Her mother had been dog-sitting for her daughter. She also was in charge of moving Nekisia's and her friends' cars to comply with alternate side parking rules while they were gone. "She sent me a text message Sunday saying all the cars were successfully moved, yay, so proud of herself," said Nekisia.



But when the girls got back in town and Cheryl directed one of the friends to her car, the woman said there had been a mistake. "She said, 'I don't see my car' and my mom said, 'it's right there' and Deanna said, 'that's not my car', said Davis. "My mom said 'that's the car I moved with your keys.'" But, in fact, the friend's actual car was exactly where she had left it. Her keys had worked in a stranger's car.


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Nekisia called police and so did Hickert, who also saw surveillance footage of Davis moving her car. "I thought, she knows what's she's doing," said Hickert. "She can get in it..." Davis posted flyers everywhere, trying to find the owner of the "stolen" car. On Wednesday, police connected the dots and brought the two confused parties together. "She felt awful. She put in so much effort," said Hickert. "I don't even mind, I'm just happy to have it back." A representative from Honda said that it is rare for the same keys to work in two cars, which is what happened to Davis and Hickert.