9 seconds and gone: Camera records broad daylight car theft

A Fox 2 viewer gets his car stolen in broad daylight.  His neighbor caught the whole thing on camera.  After a week his car is still missing, and he's hoping the public can help.

"It was just devastating to actually see this.  We were able to film it, and that, I think, was the real impact of how violated we felt," said Rick Theus.

He and his family left the house on Saturday morning.  Their 2002 cherry red Oldsmobile Alero was parked outside the house in Detroit's University District near Seven Mile and Woodward.

At approximately 11:00 a.m., a neighbor's surveillance camera captured a crime.  A light colored, full-sized Mercury pulled up and idled.  Three men were inside.  From the back seat, one of the guys got out, walked up and crouched down at Theus' driver's door to work on the lock.  Presto, he was in.  The Mercury then moved in position for a push.  The guy who popped the door did some magic on the steering column, dropped it in neutral, and the big Mercury pushed the Alero away.

"I only hope that this population finds a better way to manage their time because they're on a road to self destruction," Theus said.

You saw the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds"?  Well, from the time the guy first touched the Alero, they were gone in just nine seconds.

Theus posted the surveillance video on YouTube in the hopes of someone seeing his car.

"This is home.  This is my family, and we feel violated," he said.  "To do this in broad open daylight, you know, we want to protect our home."

Theus said he called Detroit Police and they were very helpful and took information.

He knows the odds are slim, but he's hoping someone has seen his car, which has a University of Detroit Mercy license plate frame on the back if it hasn't been removed.