GLADSTONE, Mo. — A Gladstone woman’s storage unit was cleaned out by thieves recently. They took almost all of her and her kids’ belongings, but no one knew about the theft because neither the door nor her lock were touched.
Kaley Persell had been battling illness for sometime, it led to her losing her job, her home and moving everything into storage.
“It’s my whole life it’s everything I’ve ever owned for 10 years,” Persell said.
Persell’s former five bedroom house was crammed into a 10 by 30 foot storage unit, where it stayed for two years. Then she got a call from the Gladstone storage business.
“They said you might have had some of your things taken,” she said.
She opened the lock and door to her unit, and found nearly everything was gone; her furniture, children’s beds, TVs and more.
“I bawled when I opened the door. Nobody wants to see that, but I was actually getting ready to tell them it was my last payment and I was getting ready to move into a place that next weekend,” Persell said.
What was left was strewn about the unit, including a box marked “kids cups.”
As shocking as the crime was, how they gained entry was perhaps more so. The storage unit next to her was empty, and someone removed part of the sheet metal wall designed to separate them. She suspects the person who rented the space could have something to do with it. The case remains under investigation, and Gladstone police haven’t named any suspects or persons if interest.
“The first thing I did was pray for him. That’s a very sad life for anyone to want to do that, I felt bad for him,” Persell said.
Persell filed an insurance claim, but will have to pay a hefty deductible. But she says many things she lost can’t be replaced.
“You can’t put an amount on baby books and pictures,” she said.
Also irreplaceable, the innocence lost of children.
“They say, ‘don’t put it in the storage unit Mommy! Why are you giving it away?’ That’s exactly what my kids ask me and it’s sad.”
Persell also was notified Monday she’s a victim of identity theft, with thousands of dollars charged to her credit card. She says she likely had documents in her filing cabinet with personal information.