Auto thefts are on the rise at KCI airport. Here’s how many have been stolen this year
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For this frequent traveler, it was a habit to snap a few pictures of her car at Kansas City International Airport whenever she flew out of town as a way to help her remember where she parked when she returned.
But, after returning from a business trip late this summer, when she went to the spot in the new parking garage where the photo showed her car should be, there was no car.
“My car was gone,” said the woman, whose name is being withheld by The Star since she was the victim of a crime. “I had taken a picture of like the row and everything that I had parked in, and it wasn’t there.”
After going up and down nearby rows, she called her husband just to see if he had picked it up, possibly as a prank, while she was gone. It was then she realized that her car had been stolen from airport parking.
It’s a scene playing out more often these days at KCI.
Since the pandemic, the overall number of auto thefts reported at KCI has increased significantly, according to crime data obtained by The Star through a Missouri Sunshine request.
While discussing the request for data, KCI Airport Police Capt. Tim Brewer said that without even looking at reports for the last two years, there’s definitely been a “really big increase in outright stolen autos” out of parking lots.
In 2018, there were a total of 29 vehicles reported stolen at KCI, compared to 128 vehicles reported stolen last year. That’s almost 2 1/2 cars per week that were reported stolen at the airport last year.
KCI officials contend that overall auto theft numbers at the airport are skewed by those reported stolen by rental car companies, which include vehicles that aren’t returned for some reason as well as outright thefts.
In 2018, 27 of the 29 reported auto thefts were connected to rental car companies, according to the data obtained by The Star. The next year, all of the 64 reported auto thefts on airport property were tied to rental car companies.
But since the pandemic, the number of reported auto thefts not tied to rental car companies has climbed from 10 in 2020 to 76 in 2022. Last year, nearly 60% of the vehicles reported stolen were from the airport parking lots, parking garage and other locations at the airport, and were not tied to rental car agencies.
And as of mid-September, there have been 44 auto thefts this year that were not related to rental car companies, which is nearly 66% of the total 70 vehicles reported stolen so far this year at the airport.
For almost a week, The Star asked to interview KCI officials and airport police about the data; to get their insights on what was happening with the increase in stolen vehicles at the airport and whether anything was being done to prevent them.
“We will not be granting an interview,” KCI spokesman Joe McBride said Tuesday afternoon after checking with the city communications department.
‘Sad to see all your stuff gone’
Victims are finding that thieves are making off with more than just the cars.
In 2021, a Liberty family out of town for the Christmas holiday noticed that a car parked in their driveway had been stolen. It wasn’t until they returned to KCI the following day that they found their truck they had parked there had been stolen too, and their home had been burglarized.
Police believed the thieves were able to break into the home through items left in the stolen truck from the airport.
For the traveler whose car was taken late this summer, she also lost valuable items she liked to keep with her in the car, including her grandmother’s class ring and other items, including athletic gear, that she had to scurry to replace for the following weekend.
“So the car, not so much, but some of the stuff in it was important,” she said. They also changed out their garage door openers in case the thieves discovered where she lived.
When she left on her trip, she parked her car in the new garage on Monday, and it’s believed her car was taken the next day. That’s when the thieves used her credit card that was left inside the car to pay the $50 fee to get out of the garage, she said. Because that happened a whole day after she first parked, she doesn’t think she was followed into the garage.
When she returned that Friday, days later, she discovered her car had been stolen.
Police told her that her car was an easier model to steal, and that thieves have been targeting Kias, Hyundais and older Priuses across the nation.
The experience has changed her habits when she travels. She no longer leaves the ticket to get out of the garage inside her car. She also parks closer to the doors to the terminal and on higher garage levels because it’s more inconvenient for thieves.
Weeks later, her car was found on Ninth Street in the downtown area of Kansas City.
It looked like someone used to crowbar to pry open the door and then hot-wired it to start the engine, she said. The car was banged up and stripped of its wheels. The valuables she had left inside the car were gone too.
“It’s sad to see your car look like that,” she said. “And it’s sad to see all your stuff gone.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
