- Adam Jorgenson went to a Kwik Trip in Oak Creek on Sunday with his two daughters, Charley, eight, and Autumn, two, to get his car washed
- But as he drove away, a thief jumped into his SUV to grab a cloth and sped away in the vehicle containing his two children
- The car thief realized the car was useless without the key fob and parked it a mile away. Charley then called her mother and left a panicked voicemail
An eight-year-old girl managed to save herself and her little sister from carjacking after a brazen thief stole her father's SUV in Milwaukee.
Adam Jorgenson went to a Kwik Trip in Oak Creek on Sunday with his two daughters, Charley, eight, and Autumn, two, to get his car washed. But a thief jumped into his SUV as the father went to grab a cloth and sped away in the vehicle containing his two children.
The car thief quickly realized that the car was useless without the key fob and parked it a mile away. Charley then called her mother and left a voicemail saying: “I need you!” “We lost dad” before police rescued her.
She felt like she had to “do something” and told local television station WTMJ, “I was scared.” I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Oak Creek police have arrested three people, ages 17, 20 and 21, in connection with the incident and they are all facing felony charges.
An eight-year-old girl managed to save herself and her little sister from carjacking after a thief stole her father's SUV in Milwaukee
Adam Jorgenson, left, got his car washed on a Kwik trip in Oak Creek on Sunday with his two daughters, Charley, eight, (right) and Autumn, two
But as he drove away, a thief jumped into his SUV to grab a cloth and sped away in the vehicle containing his two children. Pictured: Kwik excursion in Oak Creek
Jorgenson had left his SUV running briefly after washing when he went to get the cloth. Someone stopped him to ask for directions, and the thief intervened.
“He told me to go away,” Charley said. “I asked myself, ‘What should I do? Should I run away and be a scaredy-cat, or should I save my sister too?'
“So I said, ‘What about Autumn?’ I should try to kick him or defend myself and Autumn. But then I thought, “I should stay in my seat and do nothing.” Stay here and answer the questions.
“When I realized Dad had the key, I thought, 'He can't do anything without the key,'” Charley added.
The young girl said the driver asked her where the car keys were and she told him her father had them.
Then the thief abandoned the car a mile down the road and she grabbed her father's phone and called her mother.
“Mom, I need you!” “We lost dad,” she was heard saying in a voicemail. While two-year-old Autumn said, “Where to, Daddy?”
Jorgenson had called 911 on the Kwik Trip and spoke to his wife on a separate phone, who tracked her using his iPhone location.
Police found the young girls safe and unharmed at a Batteries Plus Bulbs store.
The thief then abandoned the car a mile down the road, she grabbed her father's phone and called her mother to rescue her and her sister Autumn (center).
Police found the young girls safe and unharmed at a Batteries Plus Bulbs store
“I ran out of the police car as fast as I could to give her a hug,” Jorgenson said.
The father said he wanted to warn other parents about the dangers of leaving their children unattended in the car.
“It’s pretty darn easy,” he added. “In the winter you come outside with your shopping and you have your two small children.
“You want to put them in the warm car and drive them back to the pen in your cart.” That’s no longer the right order.
“Your kids might need to freeze outside with you for a few more minutes before you start your car and put them in.” It took me two seconds to respond to someone and then I snuck in.
Auto thefts in Milwaukee have increased 36 percent in the last three years.
has reached out to Oak Creek Police for comment.