09-05-2025
Single mother's car stolen in Minneapolis 2 days after she bought it
Earlier this week, WCCO brought you video of kids in a stolen Kia driving dangerously down a city street.
A single mother of two is one of the latest victims of these stolen car crimes. She says her Hyundai was gone just two days after getting the keys.
"I paid $6,000 cash for a vehicle," Stephanie Tubman of Minneapolis said.
Stephanie Tubman
It was all smiles when Tubman bought her 2016 Hyundai Elantra, but that smile didn't last long.
"I paid that on Friday and on Sunday, it got stolen," she said. "That was a lot to me. That's a lot of money for me. It's going to take me a lot time to rebuild that."
Tubman is a single mother of three boys, as well as a student who works two jobs. All after turning her life around post-prison.
She had this message for the thieves: "I've more than likely been where they are at some point or another ... I get the survival mode, the need to feel like you have to take stuff."
But she's crawled her way out of survival mode.
And her sons Austin, Sean and Ethan say their mom works hard.
"Within a weekend that all kind of went away,"
Minneapolis crime data shows Tubman's car is one of nearly 1,700 stolen so far this year, which is actually down from 2024. But Hyundais and Kias are still the most common target.
A stolen Kia was spotted tearing through Uptown just this week.
"What people saw in that video is nothing new, that's been going on the last few years, especially in north Minneapolis," Police Chief Brian O'Hara said.
It's a troubling trend that law enforcement is still working to pump the brakes on.
"There needs to be consequence for this behavior, that's the bottom line," O'Hara said.
It's also fueling frustration for Tubman on this Mother's Day weekend.
"I'm just telling myself it's just money, a car, all that matters is that those boys in there love me, forgive me and they do," she said.
