Prayers, Facebook friends and bright orange rims help find stolen car

A Bedford, N.S., family says prayers, Facebook friends and bright orange rims all played roles in tracking down their car when it was stolen more than a week ago.

Dave Wilson works in Bayers Lake. On Feb. 16, his car — a 2006 Ford Five Hundred — was stolen.

He called the police and his wife, Natalie Frederick-Wilson, posted about it on their family's Facebook page, Nova Scotia's Wandering Wilsons. The tips came in fast.

"Within 10 minutes of me posting it, someone had shared that the manager from the gas station in River John said that car just stole, a couple hours ago, $100 in gas. And he had the screenshot of our car with the person putting gas in it," Natalie told CBC News.

River John is nearly 150 kilometres away from Halifax.

Dave painted the rims of his winter tires in autumn 2021 because he didn't want to have plain black rims.

"I asked our youngest daughter, 'So what colour should I paint my wheels? I was thinking maybe I'd paint them red.' And she said, 'No, paint them orange.'" So, ironically, it was Halloween night and I was painting my wheels orange," Dave recalled.

The decision ended up paying off because the orange wheels are what stood out. Messages came in about the car being spotted in places like Truro, Pictou, Elmsdale, Tatamagouche, Millbrook and Antigonish.

They would pray and then keep checking Facebook for updates, Natalie said.

Said Dave: "It was almost like … Where's Waldo? Where's my car now? I kind of forgot about being mad that it was stolen and I was having fun."

Natalie said the post reached about 300,000 people.

The next day, they received a tip that the car was spotted in Whycocomagh in Cape Breton. They called the RCMP.

About 30 minutes later, they got a call back from an officer who found the car. Natalie said the officer asked for the code to the car and the door opened.

"[The officer] says, 'I gotta go,' but she forgot to hang the phone up. I can hear kind of tussling and then I hear her pressing the code into the car.

"I hear the door unlock and then she goes, 'Get out of the car, you're under arrest.' And the guy is still inside of the car. He's sleeping in the car, OK? And he gets up and he goes, 'Whoa, whoa, I didn't do anything wrong.'"

The next morning, the family took Natalie's car to Cape Breton to get Dave's car. The muffler was damaged and some equipment that had been in the backseat was gone, but the car was OK to drive home.

As for how the car was stolen, Dave believes he forgot to lock the door and the keys were inside.

Nova Scotia RCMP told CBC News on Monday they arrested a 31-year-old man from Membertou in relation to the incident, after they received a call on the morning of Feb. 17 saying the stolen vehicle may have been spotted.

The man has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime. He was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in Wagmatcook provincial court on May 1.

As for tips to avoid a car theft, RCMP recommends taking steps such as avoiding leaving valuables in a vehicle, parking in well-lit areas, ensuring all doors are locked and windows are closed, and avoiding leaving a vehicle unattended with the engine running.

Notifications about the car's whereabouts started up again on Facebook as the family began driving back to Halifax. People spotted the family as they were driving back over the Canso Causeway.

"We want to thank the Nova Scotian community of people. We really want to thank them for how they have — not just in this instance where they found our car — we want to thank them for the way that they interact with us and for the way that they have welcomed us," said Natalie, who moved to Nova Scotia from New York City years ago. Dave is originally from Quebec.

After the car was found, Dave posted to Facebook and said the recipe to finding the car was "a triple threat of prayer, Facebook friends and orange wheels. [The thief] didn't have a chance."