Getaway Car Stuck In Mud As Police Find Suspects Asleep At The Wheel

A getaway car stuck in mud likely wasn’t the ending two alleged burglars in Florida had in mind after stealing a horde of electronic goods from a nearby home.

Police were able to use the “phone finder” app from the victim’s iPhone to track down the suspects, 21-year-old Matthew Swaggerty and 20-year-old Timothy Marrison. The pair were accused of stealing camera gear, phones, and laptops from a number of homes and cars in a Debary, Florida neighborhood.

One of the victims, Eileen Simoneau, woke up Thursday morning to find that her cellphone was missing. Her husband Steve told the Orlando Sentinel that he was sure he had plugged it in the night before, and, after checking the house and car and not finding it, he called police.

When he found other equipment missing along with his car keys, Steve Simoneau called sheriff’s deputies. They remembered that the iPhone had a “phone finder” app but thought it was unlikely they were dealing with someone dumb enough to keep the phone turned on.

They underestimated the stupidity of the blundering thieves.

When police switched on the “phone finder” app, it led them directly to the suspects’ getaway car stuck in the mud on the side of the road. The suspects, who were literally asleep at the wheel, had gone to a nearby home to steal a shovel in an attempt to dig out their 1995 Chevrolet Camaro.

Along with the getaway car stuck in mud, police also found roughly $30,000 worth of stolen electronics inside the Camaro, Yahoo! News blog The Sideshow reported.

The scene turned comical, with police pictured laughing at the getaway car stuck in mud as Marrison sat dejectedly next to the Camaro.

“I’m laughing now,” Simoneau told the Orlando Sentinel. “But the sense of violation, knowing that they were in our home, is terrifying.”

On top of the humiliation of getting their getaway car stuck in mud, the suspects face burglary-related charges and were taken to jail.