Finally some good news...Carjack victims find friends, in Joliet
On Friday afternoon, Kenneth and Ruth Gutshall walked into the same Bob Evans restaurant in Joliet where they had sat depressed, defeated and weeping just three days before. But a lot had happened in those three days, so on this day, the Wyoming couple were in a much different mood.
A suspect had been charged with carjacking and robbing Kenneth Gutshall, 77, who was traveling with his wife on their way to Pennsylvania for a vacation when the crime happened. The couple told the restaurant staff that their car was recovered early Friday in Chicago and they were making plans to go back home. Mostly, they thanked them for all their help.
"You look at them now and they are completely different from how they were Tuesday," Tabitha Anderson, a manager at the restaurant, said as she choked back tears. "You can tell they appreciated us, and they were happy."
Strangers in and around Joliet had transformed the wrongs against the Gutshalls with an outpouring of kindness. It started with a waitress who told their heartbreaking story to others, setting in motion a chain reaction. After the story was picked up by local media, more residents rallied around the couple, determined to help.
"We never expected anything like that," said Ruth Gutshall, 81.
Sandy Kehoe, 46, a hostess who paid the couple's breakfast bill Tuesday, said she was glad to see them in good spirits.
"They hugged and thanked me," she said.
It was a far cry from Tuesday.
Kenneth Gutshall was loading the couple's belongings into their white 2005 Chrysler Sebring about 6:15 a.m. when he was approached by a man who asked for a ride, police said. Gutshall drove the man to a nearby Wal-Mart and then to a residential area. There, the stranger grabbed Gutshall's car keys from the ignition, forced him from his car and took his wallet.
The couple—with no transportation, no credit cards or identification and most of their clothes gone—walked to a Bob Evans restaurant near the motel and had breakfast.
When Anderson heard the couple's plight, she told them they didn't have to pay the bill. Then she gathered the staff and asked them to give as much cash as they could.
"It was in my heart to help them," Anderson, 27, said. "You don't want to believe someone would do something like that. This poor guy was trying to do a good deed, and this is how he was repaid."
As Anderson was delivering the $80 she collected, customers approached saying they wanted to help, including a woman offering to pay for the couple's hotel. The Red Cross was called for Kenneth Gutshall's cholesterol medication, and people tried to find the couple some clothes. Another manager of the restaurant drove them back to their motel.
When Pete Piazza, a Will County sheriff's deputy who works in the state's attorney's office, learned what had happened, he drove to their motel. He looked around and told them he wanted to move them to a nicer hotel, where they'd be closer to food outlets.
Piazza paid for the couple's first night at the Holiday Inn Express out of his pocket.
"That's just what you do, you help people," he said. "It was for someone a thousand miles from home, without a car, a charge card, money, clothes, in a foreign place. I don't want to pat myself on the back because this is what you are supposed to do."
Jenn Cain, director of crime prevention for the state's attorney's office, helped the couple cancel their stolen credit cards and reached out to other agencies to get them toiletries. Others called in favors and sought out help. Within hours, the couple had a new place to stay, clothes, cosmetics and access to food.
At the Holiday Inn Express on South Larkin, manager Rich Hatton gave the couple a free room for their additional nights.
"Maybe this will make Joliet look a little better," he said.
On Friday morning, police charged Toby Godfrey, 31, of the 500 block of South Joliet Avenue, with aggravated vehicular carjacking, robbery, aggravated battery and identity theft in connection with the crime.
When the Gutshalls went back to the Bob Evans to thank the people who got everything rolling, they were showered with more cash customers had donated.
Kenneth Gutshall said he forgave his attacker.
"I'd even give him a hug, and tell him I'd like to see him give his life to the Lord," he said.
That didn't surprise his wife. "That's his nature—that's the way he is."
Cain, of the state's attorney's office, thinks the Joliet area also showed some of its true colors.
"It was heartbreaking that someone could do this to them," she said. "But it was inspiring to see how many people rallied around this couple."
By Dennis Sullivan and Lolly Bowean CHICAGO TRIBUNE
On Friday afternoon, Kenneth and Ruth Gutshall walked into the same Bob Evans restaurant in Joliet where they had sat depressed, defeated and weeping just three days before. But a lot had happened in those three days, so on this day, the Wyoming couple were in a much different mood.A suspect had been charged with carjacking and robbing Kenneth Gutshall, 77, who was traveling with his wife on their way to Pennsylvania for a vacation when the crime happened. The couple told the restaurant staff that their car was recovered early Friday in Chicago and they were making plans to go back home. Mostly, they thanked them for all their help.
"You look at them now and they are completely different from how they were Tuesday," Tabitha Anderson, a manager at the restaurant, said as she choked back tears. "You can tell they appreciated us, and they were happy."
Strangers in and around Joliet had transformed the wrongs against the Gutshalls with an outpouring of kindness. It started with a waitress who told their heartbreaking story to others, setting in motion a chain reaction. After the story was picked up by local media, more residents rallied around the couple, determined to help.
"We never expected anything like that," said Ruth Gutshall, 81.
Sandy Kehoe, 46, a hostess who paid the couple's breakfast bill Tuesday, said she was glad to see them in good spirits.
"They hugged and thanked me," she said.
It was a far cry from Tuesday.
Kenneth Gutshall was loading the couple's belongings into their white 2005 Chrysler Sebring about 6:15 a.m. when he was approached by a man who asked for a ride, police said. Gutshall drove the man to a nearby Wal-Mart and then to a residential area. There, the stranger grabbed Gutshall's car keys from the ignition, forced him from his car and took his wallet.
The couple—with no transportation, no credit cards or identification and most of their clothes gone—walked to a Bob Evans restaurant near the motel and had breakfast.
When Anderson heard the couple's plight, she told them they didn't have to pay the bill. Then she gathered the staff and asked them to give as much cash as they could.
"It was in my heart to help them," Anderson, 27, said. "You don't want to believe someone would do something like that. This poor guy was trying to do a good deed, and this is how he was repaid."
As Anderson was delivering the $80 she collected, customers approached saying they wanted to help, including a woman offering to pay for the couple's hotel. The Red Cross was called for Kenneth Gutshall's cholesterol medication, and people tried to find the couple some clothes. Another manager of the restaurant drove them back to their motel.
When Pete Piazza, a Will County sheriff's deputy who works in the state's attorney's office, learned what had happened, he drove to their motel. He looked around and told them he wanted to move them to a nicer hotel, where they'd be closer to food outlets.
Piazza paid for the couple's first night at the Holiday Inn Express out of his pocket.
"That's just what you do, you help people," he said. "It was for someone a thousand miles from home, without a car, a charge card, money, clothes, in a foreign place. I don't want to pat myself on the back because this is what you are supposed to do."
Jenn Cain, director of crime prevention for the state's attorney's office, helped the couple cancel their stolen credit cards and reached out to other agencies to get them toiletries. Others called in favors and sought out help. Within hours, the couple had a new place to stay, clothes, cosmetics and access to food.
At the Holiday Inn Express on South Larkin, manager Rich Hatton gave the couple a free room for their additional nights.
"Maybe this will make Joliet look a little better," he said.
On Friday morning, police charged Toby Godfrey, 31, of the 500 block of South Joliet Avenue, with aggravated vehicular carjacking, robbery, aggravated battery and identity theft in connection with the crime.When the Gutshalls went back to the Bob Evans to thank the people who got everything rolling, they were showered with more cash customers had donated.
Kenneth Gutshall said he forgave his attacker.
"I'd even give him a hug, and tell him I'd like to see him give his life to the Lord," he said.
That didn't surprise his wife. "That's his nature—that's the way he is."
Cain, of the state's attorney's office, thinks the Joliet area also showed some of its true colors.
"It was heartbreaking that someone could do this to them," she said. "But it was inspiring to see how many people rallied around this couple."
By Dennis Sullivan and Lolly Bowean CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Cap'n: What's striking here is that while Joliet produced a carjacker, it also produced the community that was went out of their way to help these nice people.
Should I even be remotely surprised that a black committed this act?! Nope!
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