Disabled teen’s beloved dune buggy stolen from Independence yard

There aren’t many things that Johnathan Brende, a severely disabled Independence teenager, has to look forward to.

Tooling around in the passenger seat of a souped-up dune buggy was the top of the list. Tuesday was to have been the first day this spring to take a ride.

“That’s his life,” Tonni Brende said of her 17-year-old, nonverbal, quadriplegic son. “He lives for that. He’ll smile ear to ear.”

But somebody in the night cut a cable lock to open a gate to the suburban backyard where the buggy had been stored. Tuesday morning it was gone.

“I had to show him that it was missing,” Tonni Brende said. “I think he understands.”

Since Johnathan was a boy he has loved the sound of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. He likes to sit on the front porch and wait for them. He can hear them from blocks away.

A couple of years ago Tonni Brende took Johnathan and his brothers to the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D. On that trip, Johnathan got the thrill of riding in a Harley sidecar.

Johnathan’s father, Michael Brende Sr., specialized a dune buggy he found for sale in Blue Springs. He sold an old vehicle for money to buy tires for the buggy. He gave the wheels independent suspension. He gave the engine more volume and made other adjustments. In all, the family invested about $4,000 so that Johnathan could feel the wind in his hair as they tore through vacant lots near the family’s home in the 500 block of West Colonel Drive in the Kentucky Hills neighborhood.

On Tuesday, Tonni prepared to console her son by taking him to get ice cream. They would use the van. It would be a ride but it wouldn’t be the same.

Michael Brende filed a police report, but Tonni Brende said the officer told them the buggy had probably already been stripped. She has heard of two other recreational vehicles stolen recently in their neighborhood.

She hopes someone with information about her son’s buggy will call police. But she’d rather just have it back.

“I’d prefer that I wake up in the morning and it be in the driveway,” Tonni Brende said. “That’s what I need. That’s what my son needs.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Disabled teen’s beloved dune buggy stolen from Independence yard."