2023-12-29 16:28:51
A family managed to recover, with the help of a AirTaga suitcase that had been stolen from an airport in the city of Charlotte (in the American state of North Carolina) following doing something rather dangerous: going following the thieves without calling the police first.
The case began last Friday (12/22), when the Gavino family, residents of the Miami region, landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, in what would be just another chapter of their end-of-year vacation.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that one of their bags was missing, which raised Catherine Gavino’s concern, as she had hidden an AirTag in her luggage before boarding. To the Queen City NewsCatherine explained that she had purchased the tracker the night before:
I watched a YouTube video on Friday morning and played [o AirTag] in luggage. It was supposed to help find luggage if it got lost, but I never thought it would be stolen.
Catherine then took out her iPhone and opened the Search app (Find My) to see where the suitcase (which belonged to his parents, by the way) was. To her surprise, she was already on a nearby highway heading towards the city of Gastonia, also in North Carolina.
Contrary to all recommendations, Catherine and her family began following the suitcase, until the tracker’s location stopped being updated — putting the search on pause. The AirTag only showed signs of life once more last Monday (12/25), on Christmas Day.
I said to my father, who was with me: “Look, it’s only 20 minutes, let’s go over there.”
According to Catherine, who this time decided to call the police, her parents’ suitcase was in a house with other victims’ suitcases. Unfortunately for her, however, it was already completely empty. The main suspicion is that the thieves had sold his parents’ clothes shortly before.
My parents came to see the mountains in North Carolina, so what happened made me sad, which was all the more reason to go following her [a mala]…I wouldn’t have found her without that AirTag.
According to the information, a suspect with previous convictions for robbery and drug trafficking was arrested, with his bail set at US$10,000.
It is worth noting that, although Catherine’s family managed to recover their belongings — or at least part of them —, the recommendation is never to go following a stolen item alone, whether with the help of an AirTag or not. The safest thing is to always contact the authorities and leave the (potentially dangerous) search to them.
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