A mover made a mistake and now a South Florida woman is battling to get her late mother’s belongings back. Karen Hensel has tonight’s 7 Investigates.
Losing a parent is devastating. This South Florida woman lost her mother, who was also her best friend.
Valerie/missing late mother’s belongings: “My mom… I mean, I could sit here all day and tell you how wonderful she is. The kindest person you’d ever want to know.”
Her mother’s things were precious to her, so when Valerie moved from Pennsylvania back to Fort Lauderdale in July she took great care packing 30 boxes, including some of her mother’s belongings.
Valerie: “The ones that I really cherish are the kitchen boxes. They’re important to me because they’re my mom’s.”
But when she arrived in Florida, some of her mom’s boxes were gone.
Valerie: “I went to the mover, and I told them right then that I’m missing four boxes.”
The mover told her he thought the boxes were mistakenly dropped off at a storage unit in Melbourne, Florida.
Valerie immediately called the woman who was renting the unit.
Valerie: “I’ve offered to go up there at her convenience to get them. I’ve offered to have the mover get them. I’ve offered to go up and have a security person with me so that only those four boxes will come with me. She kept giving me different excuses.”
Months of text messages show the woman telling Valerie, “The keys to the storage unit” were in a “stolen purse” and she lives “an hour away.”
Valerie: “She said that she would meet me on a particular day and then just ghost me on the phone.”
Valerie’s number was eventually blocked.
Valerie: “It’s very hard. It’s very difficult. I feel like I, you know, I suffered another loss.”
After getting no help from the mover or Melbourne Police, Valerie called 7 Investigates.
The mover and the woman renting the unit agreed to meet us late last week at the storage facility.
Karen Hensel: “Do you have any hope that you’re going to get these boxes back?”
Valerie: “Only if it comes from you guys.”
So we made the three-hour drive to the storage unit here in Melbourne. The mover never showed. But we looked, and Valerie’s boxes are not here.
We called the mover but only got his voicemail.
Karen on cell: “Can you check and see if you made any other stops, if those boxes could potentially be in someone else’s storage unit?”
He never returned our call.
Valerie: “It’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating.”
So, for now, Valerie is holding onto hope the missing boxes turn up and the mover steps up to help make that happen.
Karen Hensel, 7News.
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