AURORA, Colo. — An Arapahoe County woman's mobile boutique was stolen nearly two weeks ago from an Aurora storage facility and found days later by police in Nebraska.
For more than six years, the 1987 Chevy P30 step van has served as the home of Shirley Black's business, Fashions Underground.
“She's big and pink and black and fun. And she just makes you smile. Yeah, she's cool," Black said.
Fit with a dressing room, shelves, air conditioning, and more, customers at events and farmers markets could try on clothes.
“That’s why we do it. I mean, shenanigans in the truck. Making them dress and feel good and look good and [have] fun," Black said.
But nearly two weeks ago, any chances for fun came to a sudden end.
Someone stole her truck from a storage facility off South Havana Street in Aurora, she said. That's where she’d park her truck when it wasn’t in use.
“How do you pick the big gigantic pink and black truck as the one that you take from the secure facility," Black said.
She only found out about the theft last weekend after getting a call from a police officer in North Platte, Nebraska, a nearly four-hour drive east.
"Come to find out that they started to disassemble the engine. They had spray painted it almost all black. There was drug paraphernalia throughout," Black said.
The truck’s disappearance has also hurt Black’s daughter, Gabby. She often helped her mom sell the clothes.
“I was going to take over my mom's business. And if I didn't end up doing something else, that was going to be my thing. And it was gone," she said.
The truck is still in Nebraska. Black hopes to find out soon whether it’s repairable.
Still, she wonders why thieves specifically targeted her and her business.
“Why steal from somebody? Why take from somebody else? Why? ... Do you know what I did to create that? It's not yours," Black said.
In addition to the case in Nebraska, Black filed a report with the Aurora Police Department. Police told her they have surveillance video of someone stealing her truck from the storage facility.