'They picked the wrong vehicle': AirTag helps family find their stolen car
A North Carolina family says technology that costs under $30 helped police find their stolen car within minutes. And they want other families to know about it.
"I'm like, am I just sleepy and not seeing the car right," Antar Muhammad told .
Antar and Leslie Muhammad quickly woke up Saturday morning when they looked outside their bedroom blinds.
"I asked my wife, I said, 'hey, do you know your car's no longer in the driveway?'" Antar said.
"He's a jokester, so I'm like, 'no, it's not; it's there,'" Leslie said.
It wasn't.
A doorbell camera captured video of the thieves before they took off with the Muhammads' car.
One of them tried to open the door of a neighbor's car, then walks away.
"They were, they were going around checking vehicles, and they thought they got lucky. They picked the wrong vehicle. They just didn't realize it," Antar said.
That's because they drove off in a car with an Apple AirTag hidden inside.
The couple called police, and from the kitchen of their home, tracked down their stolen car to a neighborhood 12 miles away.
"I just went to Find My (app). I opened that up. You could tell it was right at these apartments here, then they came out on this street here," Antar said.
Durham police said the thieves drove off in the Muhammads' car and crashed it nearby.
"Thank God, you know, we were safe, nothing valuable was in there," Antar said.
While their story doesn't end with a car back in the driveway, they want other families to see how a little technology can quickly catch up with crooks.
"If there's an easy, especially low-budget way, of finding a way to keep your home and family secure, and your items secure, that's the best way to do it," Leslie said.
After finding the Muhammads' car, police took three underage suspects into custody.
The family says from the moment they realized the car was gone to when it was all settled, took about two-and-a-half hours.
