Taylorsville, Utah-- A Taylorsville family is hoping to get a stolen trailer filled with tools back, because the trailer is worth more to them than just what’s inside.
Right after the owner discovered the trailer missing, the family said he died of a heart attack.
They said Patrick Kartchner realized the trailer was gone Monday morning as he went outside for work. It’s normally hooked to his bright blue vintage truck outside their home on Sesame Street.
Kartchner’s daughter Jadian said she and her mom immediately got up and began driving around the neighborhood in search of the trailer, which contained the family’s livelihood.
“He earned everything that was in that trailer,” she said. “He worked for everything, he paid for everything by himself.”
Patrick called police, and she said that her dad began to panic as he talked to a police officer on the phone. The officer tried to calm Kartchner down.
“I've never seen him so stressed, because all of his hard-earned work was gone,” she said. “What was he going to do? How was he going to work? How was he going to provide for us? Because that was his job, and everything was in that trailer.”
Not long after that moment of panic, Patrick suffered a heart attack and passed away.
Unified Police said the original police officer who took the stolen trailer call recognized the address for the medical incident and showed up to help. However, it was too late.
They’re now investigating who stole the trailer, as the Kartchner family sits in shock.
“I hope whoever did that feels pretty crappy right now, because they took away the most important thing to me,” Jadian said.
The most important thing—her father, who she said was known as honest, righteous and he always treated others with respect.
She hopes his trailer and belongings can return home.
“It's just kind of more of a sentimental thing,” Jadian said. “That's my dad's stuff, why would you take it? And to know that it caused him to have such a big problem in his life, that it caused him to not be with us anymore.”
The trailer was located in Taylorsville Friday, without the tools, and returned to the family.
Loved ones have created a GoFundMe page to assist the family.
