Couple loses priceless items after U-Haul is broken into in Kansas City
By Peyton Headlee
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — A couple is pleading for help after their U-Haul was broken into in Kansas City during a cross-country move.
It happened earlier this month at the Holiday Inn Express near KCI.
The Koeslings are newlyweds who are moving from Portland, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina. They stopped in Kansas City for the night before getting back on the road — with their life packed into their U-Haul trailer.
When they woke up in the morning, the locks were cut and almost everything was gone.
“Our trailer was completely open. All my computers were gone — bags, personal items, tax information, social security, my wedding ring,” Sam Koesling said. “But the most important thing for me as a photographer was my camera equipment.”
The Koeslings run a wedding photography business. Thieves stole more than $20,000 in camera equipment and eight years’ worth of work on hard drives.
“I’ve been pretty depressed. This is hitting me hard because they left me in the streets,” Koesling said. “I don’t have any other things to kind of get back on track. So, it’s been really tough.”
He said he is having to borrow cameras because he doesn’t have the money to buy new equipment.
Even as the two try to piece their life and their photography business back together in a brand-new city, their concern is for their couples.
“I have three clients that they lost their wedding photos, and you know, I can’t get them back,” Koesling said. “It’s just a one-time event and the three brides lost it all with me.”
The hard drives that the thieves took had pictures from three couple’s wedding days – priceless pictures they can never get back.
The hard drives are black LaCie 8TB drives. They were in a small Tommy Hilfiger suitcase in the trailer.
Koesling said he refunded the clients since the photos were stolen but hopes he will be able to get their photos back.
“They took my whole life in there because I had all my photos and stuff and it’s all gone. So basically, now I have to start over again at my new home in South Carolina, but I basically have nothing,” he said.
The trailer was parked by a surveillance camera in the hotel parking lot, but he says it wasn’t working at the time of the break-in.
Thieves also stole his personal information. He said he had to freeze his accounts since they have tried to use his bank and credit cards.
Friends have started a GoFundMe for the couple.
U-Haul has some tips on their website. They recommend getting insurance on your moving truck before you leave. They say you should always lock your doors — especially the back door with a padlock. If you’re parking at a hotel, they say you should park in a well-lit area, as close to the building as possible, and consider parking a car in front of the truck if you can.
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