‘We just want our van back.’ Thieves steal Honda from KC family with rare triplets
Early Sunday, in the morning darkness before the sun came up, thieves broke into vehicles at the townhouse complex where Adrienne Blanford and her family live in south Kansas City.
They pulled up in what looked like a dark-colored Kia Soul, jumped out and ransacked cars from one end of the lot to the other, Blanford told The Star Friday. “They were on a mission,” said Blanford, who watched a neighbor’s Ring camera video of the incident.
When they got to Blanford’s vehicle, something apparently startled them because “they got scared and took off in my van,” she said.
She bought that used, 2011 Honda Odyssey with donations from strangers after she gave birth to a set of rare triplets at University Health. The Star wrote about them when they were born.
GoFundMe money helped her make a down payment and she relied on that van for her seven children under the age of 9. She was still making monthly payments of more than $300.
Now it’s gone.
“Because I came to the public to get the car I wanted to let them know that the car they helped me get had been taken,” Blanford said. “We’re not begging for anything. We just want our van back.
“I’m just sick about it. I’m hoping that they return it.”
All this week Blanford has been driving the kids around in her mom’s car, way smaller than the 8-passenger, three-row Odyssey and, let’s just say, less than ideal for hauling four car seats.
University Health officials shared Blanford’s childbirth story publicly in January because her three babies were considered an odds-defying trio. Hospital officials also alerted The Star to what happened to the van.
Most triplets are born through some kind of reproductive assistance. But Blanford’s babies were not. And the possibility that they were identical made them even more unusual.
“Triplets are rare. Twins happen about 1 every 80 births or so. But triplets, natural triplets, are about 1 every 8,000 births,” said Dr. Joshua Petrikin, a University Health pediatrician and neonatal specialist said in January.
“And identical triplets are more like one every 50,000 births. So they’re rare. They’re still exciting whenever they happen.”
Blanford already had four children with her husband, Alim Muhammad, and was shocked when she found out they were having triplets. Then the babies were born prematurely at nearly 31 weeks, within three minutes of each other on Jan. 10.
After she was discharged, Blanford had to leave the girls behind in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit for several weeks. At birth, none weighed much more than 3 pounds, the smallest girl weighing 2 pounds, 12 ounces.
Today, “everything is going good,” for E’Mani, Leilani and Khelani, she said.
“They’ve been doing perfect. They’re hitting their milestones. Gaining weight ... sitting up, holding their heads up, all their motor skills,” said Blanford, who audits customer service phone calls full-time for a living.
Blanford’s mother set up the GoFund Me to help her daughter bring the babies home safely. Their previous van was too small.
“We were just so grateful for the donations when the girls could come home and we had the van,” Blanford said.
A spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department said Friday that the theft had been reported and investigators are handling it. “There are no updates or information to provide” at this time, said Capt. Corey Carlisle.
“We all hope for a timely resolution and return of their vehicle.”
Blanford is holding out for some kind of miracle, maybe one of those sappy movie endings where the thieves turn out to have hearts of gold.
When they see the car seats, backpacks, sippy cups, diapers, baby wipes and tiny fingerprints on the inside of the windows, “they’ll know I have kids,” she said. “So I’m hoping they don’t tear it up. At least let us find it.
“I’m just, like, please.”
It was her bad luck, she knows, that she left the doors unlocked.
“It just so happened that night I was trying to catch the stores before they closed, ran out and got some milk,” she said. “I don’t know if I was tired or I was trying to get back quickly ...
“I always make sure to click (the door locks) ... before I get inside.
“And oh my god, the one night I didn’t lock the doors.”
The stolen van is a 2011 gold Honda Odyssey with Missouri license plate CX6U1C.
This story was originally published October 20, 2023 at 5:33 PM.
.jpg)