GPS trackers help Philadelphia couple track stolen SUV – NBC10 Philadelphia

A Philadelphia couple says GPS trackers hidden inside their SUV helped police track down the vehicle after it was stolen from outside their home early Friday morning.

Aleks Vasov and his wife, Regina Morozova, said they woke up to the sound of their white Dodge Durango being stolen just before 3 a.m. on Jasper Street in East Kensington on Sept. 4.

“We heard that the engine had started, and I just woke up and went to see what’s going on. And I saw that my car was running away from the parking spot,” Morozova said.

Surveillance video shared with NBC10 shows an individual breaking the Durango’s back window and, minutes later, climbing inside. Video from another camera shows a group getting out of different car, getting into the Durango and driving away.

“My first thought was to run outside and chase, and then my reason stopped me and I started calling 911,” Vasov said.

As Vasov called 911, Morozova pulled up video from the couple’s surveillance cameras.

But the couple also had another way to follow their stolen SUV: Multiple AirTags hidden inside the vehicle.

Vasov and Morozova said that while police took their report, they tracked the Durango and shared its location with officers.

“Step by step we were telling them where they were, and they were able to be very patient and trace them to the point where the car was stationary,” Vasov said.

Vasov said authorities eventually found the Durango more than four miles north of where it had been stolen.

When the couple got the SUV back, they found it in bad condition.

“It was bad,” Vasov said.

The Philadelphia Police Department told NBC10 that East Detectives is investigating.

“Detectives are following all leads to determine whether this incident is connected to other incidents in the area,” a spokesperson for the police department said.

The couple said the experience left them angry and frustrated.

“Every time we think about what happened, we get very angry, frustrated,” Vasov said.

Vasov said he hopes investigators can determine who was responsible.

“I would like to know who these people were, why they did it, and then maybe bring them to justice if possible,” Vasov said.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.